In this paper we study asset demands and consumption of an individual at the end of her life cycle. We present an ideal market where complete insurance against longevity risk is available: the market consists of original assets, e.g., stocks and bonds, and annuities and life-insurance contracts...

Community-based interventions, particularly group-based ones, are considered to be a cost-effective way of delivering interventions in low-income settings. However, design features of these programs could also influence dimensions of household and community behaviour beyond those targeted by the...

Community-based interventions, particularly group-based ones, are considered to be a cost-effective way of delivering interventions in low-income settings. However, design features of these programs could also influence dimensions of household and community behaviour beyond those targeted by the...

This paper characterizes the transition dynamics of a continuous-time neoclassical production economy with capital accumulation in which households face idiosyncratic income risk and cannot commit to repay their debt. Therefore, even though a full set of contingent claims that pay out...

This paper uses consumption patterns across countries to measure capital market integration. It argues that earlier empirical tests of this type were potentially mis-specified and proposes a more robust specification. The results indicate that Japan was the only industrialized country for which...

While paying careful attention to the stochastic properties of income process, this paper tests the joint rational expectation and permanent income hypothesis (RE/PIH) to clarify how and to what degree financial integration delinks national income and consumption. It is shown that both the OECD...

We propose an optimization criterion that yields extraordinary consumption smoothing compared to the well known results of the life-cycle model. Under this criterion we solve the related consumption and investment optimization problem faced by individuals with preferences for intertemporal...

This paper develops a continuous-time Markov model for utility optimization for households. The household optimizes expected future utility from consumption by controlling consumption, investments and purchase of life insurance on each person in the household. The optimal controls are...

We analyze an optimal consumption and investment problem for a representative agent who may have different preferences for consumption and for terminal wealth. The utility for consumption is characterized by constant relative risk aversion so consumption is always positive. In contrast, the...