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...

A number of recent studies have concluded that consumer spending patterns over the month are closely linked to the timing of income receipt. This correlation is interpreted as evidence of hyperbolic discounting. I re-examine patterns of spending in the diary sample of the U.S. Consumer...

Using a switching regression technique we provide unique evidence on three questions concerning the consumption behaviour of UK households. First, what percentage of households display excess sensitivity to income? Second, what affects the likelihood of being in that group? Third, is there a...

It is shown how one can effectively use cross-section data in modelling the change over time in aggregate consumption expenditure of a heterogeneous population. The starting point of our aggregation analysis is a dynamic behavioral relation on the household level. Based on certain hypotheses on...

This paper considers what role in-home barcode scanner data could play in collecting household expenditure information as part of national budget surveys. One role is as a source of validation. We make detailed micro-level comparisons of food and drink expenditures in two British datasets: the...

A major difficulty faced by researchers who want to study the consumption and savings behavior of households is the lack of reliable panel data on household expenditures. One possibility is to use surveys that follow the same households over time, but such data are rare and they typically have...