In this paper, we examine the impact of reductions in barriers to migration on the consumption of households in rural China. We find that increased migration from rural villages leads to significant increases in consumption per capita, and that this effect is stronger for poorer households...

In this paper, we examine the impact of reductions in barriers to migration on the consumption of households in rural China. We find that increased migration from rural villages leads to significant increases in consumption per capita, and that this effect is stronger for poorer households...

We study a simple savings scheme that allows workers to defer receipt of part of their wages for three months at zero interest. The scheme significantly increases savings during the deferral period, leading to higher post-disbursement spending on lumpy goods. Two years later, after two...

Poor families around the world spend a large fraction of their income on consumption of goods that appear to be useless in alleviating poverty, while saving at very low rates and neglecting investment in health and education. Such consumption patterns seem to be related to the persistence of...

This paper provides a review of the general concepts and influential findings of empirical research on risk-coping behavior and consumption smoothing arrangements in rural economies of developing countries. Low-income individuals live with high levels of risk and limited access to formal...

Exploring data from the urban and migrant household surveys of the Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP), this paper dissects the underlying causes of the depressing effect of the hukou system on migrant household consumption into two channels. On one hand, the disentitlement to local urban...

In this paper, we examine the issue of consumption insurance in the context of urban China, where the wage structure and social security system changed dramatically during the 1990s. Using a national representative household survey from 1992 to 2003, we construct a pseudo panel dataset to study...

The Islamic Revolution of 1979, the eight-year war with Iraq (1980-88), and the collapse of oil prices in 1986 dealt huge blows to Iran's economy. In this paper we use a pseudo panel constructed from annual multiple surveys during 1984-2004 to analyze changes in cohort earnings and consumption...