(before making additional payments). By contrast, debt declined most (so saving rose most) for unconstrained consumers. These …

, whereas debt declined most (so saving rose most) for unconstrained consumers. More generally, the results suggest that there …

We use data from the 2009 Internet Survey of the Health and Retirement Study to examine the consumption impact of …

consistent with these trends. When households care about their consumption relative to others, individual saving rates decrease … average saving rate decreased by eight percentage points. Over the same period the US experienced a substantial increase in … inequality and a continuous decrease in the aggregate saving rate. We propose an explanation based on interpersonal comparisons …

consistent with these trends. When households care about their consumption relative to others, individual saving rates decrease … panel of OECD countries consistent with these predictions. -- relative consumption ; income inequality ; saving … average saving rate decreased by eight percentage points. Over the same period the US experienced a substantial increase in …

We propose a new classification of consumption goods into nondurable goods, durable goods and a new class which we call … "memorable" goods. A good is memorable if a consumer can draw current utility from its past consumption experience through memory …. We construct a novel consumption-savings model in which a consumer has a well-defined preference ordering over both …

Consumer Expenditure Survey, we exploit this historically unique experiment to measure the change in consumption expenditures … consumption demand are significant. The estimated responses are largest for households with relatively low liquid wealth and low …

We argue that the U.S. personal saving rate's long stability (1960s-1980s), subsequent steady decline (1980s-2007), and … recent substantial rise (2008-2011) can be interpreted using a parsimonious 'buffer stock' model of consumption in the … presence of labor income uncertainty and credit constraints. Saving in the model is affected by the gap between 'target' and …