Some ways in which farmers in LDCs can protect their living standards against fluctuations in income are discussed. After considering the theory of consumption under uncertainty when there is no or limited borrowing, the case where some borrowing is allowed is also examined. Empirical evidence...

For thirty years it has been accepted that consumption is smooth because permanent income is smoother than measured income. This paper considers the evidence for the contrary position--that permanent income is in fact less smooth than measured income, so that the smoothness of consumption cannot...

By buying cheap and selling dear, risk-neutral commodity speculators can smooth commodity prices and induce serial dependence in price even when none would exist under a simple process of supply and demand. Commodity prices are variable and strongly positively correlated from one year to the...

This paper develops and implements a method for estimating price elasticities of demand using cross-sectional household survey data. Geographically clustered households report unit values, which when corrected for quality effects and for measurement error, indicate the underlying spatial...

The authors examine the social pension in South Africa, where large cash sums--about twice the median per capita income of African bouseholds--are paid to people qualified by age but irrespective of previous contributions. They present the history of the scheme and use a 1993 nationally...