Pashardes (1991) and Banks, Blundell and Preston (1994) use parametric methods to estimate lifetime equivalence scales. Their approaches put parametric restrictions on the differences in within-period expenditure needs across household types, the intertemporal allocation of expenditure, and the...

Religious prohibitions against usury constitute a tie-in between religious reward and the use of charity and reciprocal exchange to smooth consumptiopn. We argue that prohibitions will occur when the following apply: consumption smoothing is requied for the survival of the population; charity...

This paper presents and investigates two classes of equivalent-income functions that are generalizations of those that correspond to exact (independent-of-base) absolute and relative equivalence scales. They provide less restrictive household demands, especially for children's goods, and have...