This paper gauges the strenght of precautionary saving motives by estimating the coefficient of prudence from the U.K. Family Expenditure Survey data set (a time series of cross-sections). Most instrumental variables estimates reveal that larger uncertainty leads to smaller current saving, and...

The cross-country correlations between annual per capita consumption growth in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) during the period 1973-1996 are much lower than predicted by the basic theory of international financial integration. Capturing that the consumption behavior...

The first contribution of this paper, following the works of Lettau and Ludvigson (2001a,b), is construction of the Japanese consumption-wealth ratio data series and to examine whether it explains Japanese stock market data. We find that the consumption-wealth ratio does not predict future stock...

In an economy with infinitely-lived homogeneous and perfect capital market, gross interest rate is determined in equiliibrium as a reciprocal number of households' subjective discount factor as well known. They consume a constant fraction of their own total human and nonhuman wealth, and their...

In this paper we intend to present some theoretical approaches regarding measuring of the main determinants influence on inflation and based on these determinations to present the developments observed in the Romanian economy. Inflationary process is in the spotlight of all the world...

This paper examines asset prices when risk-sharing externalities are incorporated into an infinite-horizon model where consumers are exposed to the endogenous income risks. It is shown that there exist multiple types of equilibria depending on the degree of market participation. Under incomplete...

Human development is the beginning of economic growth. The main purpose of wealth should be to enrich people’s lives, to broaden people’s choices and to enable every citizen, every child, every woman and every man to reach her or his full potential. Yet, as the experience of many countries...

We document and study international differences in both ownership and holdings of stocks, private businesses, homes, and mortgages among households aged fifty or more in thirteen countries, using new and comparable survey data. We employ counterfactual techniques to decompose observed...

We study the determinants of individual attitudes towards risk and, in particular, why some individuals exhibit extremely high risk aversion. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics we find that a policy induced increase in high school graduation rates leads to significantly fewer...