This paper explores the statistical properties of household consumption-expenditure budget share distributions defined as the share of household total expenditure spent for purchasing a specific category of commodities for a large sample of Italian households in the period 1989-2004. We find...

This paper explores the statistical properties of household consumption-expenditure budget shares distributions (HBSDs) defined as the share of household total expenditure spent for purchasing a specific category of commodities for a large sample of Italian households in the period 1989-2004. We...

This paper explores the statistical properties of household consumption-expenditure budget shares distributions (HBSDs) - defined as the share of household total expenditure spent for purchasing a specific category of commodities - for a large sample of Italian households in the period...

In his widely discussed book "Fault Lines" (2010), Raghuram Rajan argues that many U.S. consumers have reacted to the decline in their relative permanent incomes since the early 1980s by reducing saving and increasing debt. This has temporarily kept private consumption and thus aggregate demand...

Using the first wave of the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS), a large micro-level dataset on households' balance sheets in 15 euro area countries, this paper explores how households allocate their assets. We derive stylised facts on asset participation as well as levels...