We document systematic and significant time variation in US lifecycle non-durable consumption profiles. Consumption profiles have consistently become flatter: differences in consumption across generations have decreased. Pooling data across different periods to identify lifecycle profiles masks...

I study the effects of borrowing and liquidity constraints on the response of consumption toanticipated income changes. Using the PSID over 1999–2013, I find that the well-documentedstrong excess sensitivity of consumption to income of highly constrained households can beexplained by episodes...