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A test of the household income process using consumption and wealth data

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  • Etheridge, Ben
Abstract
The evolution of household income can be explained almost equally well by rival models. However, rival models have very different implications for other household behaviours, such as consumption. I therefore test between two prominent models in the UK using panel data on consumption and wealth, as well as income, over 1991–2006. To operate the test, I show that long-lived income shocks transmit far less than one-for-one through to consumption, and particularly so for younger households. I then compare these estimates of transmission with estimates of households’ ability to smooth shocks, captured by the data on wealth. Conditional on the suitability of the consumption model, my estimates provide evidence against the restricted income process (RIP) and in favour of an alternative heterogeneous income process (HIP). This finding also explains why cross-sectional consumption inequality grew slowly over the period even though the variance of long-lived shocks was high. Finally, I conclude that it is important to consider mean reversion of shocks when constructing life-cycle consumption models.

Suggested Citation

  • Etheridge, Ben, 2015. "A test of the household income process using consumption and wealth data," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 129-157.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:78:y:2015:i:c:p:129-157
    DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2015.05.003
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    Cited by:

    1. Konstantinos Angelopoulos & Spyridon Lazarakis & James Malley, 2019. "Cyclical income risk in Great Britain," Working Papers 2019_03, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    2. Quintana-Domeque, Climent & Wohlfart, Johannes, 2016. "“Relative concerns for consumption at the top”: An intertemporal analysis for the UK," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 172-194.
    3. Peter Ganong & Damon Jones & Pascal J. Noel & Fiona E. Greig & Diana Farrell & Chris Wheat, 2020. "Wealth, Race, and Consumption Smoothing of Typical Income Shocks," NBER Working Papers 27552, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Druedahl, Jeppe & Munk-Nielsen, Anders, 2018. "Identifying heterogeneous income profiles using covariances of income levels and future growth rates," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 24-42.
    5. Angelopoulos, Konstantinos & Lazarakis, Spyridon & Malley, James, 2020. "The distributional implications of asymmetric income dynamics," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    6. Hayakawa, Kazuhiko, 2024. "Recent development of covariance structure analysis in economics," Econometrics and Statistics, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 31-48.
    7. Apostolos Fasianos & Reamonn Lydon, 2022. "Do households with debt cut back their consumption more? New evidence from the United Kingdom," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(3), pages 737-760, July.
    8. Rafi M. M. I. Chowdhury, 2018. "Religiosity and Voluntary Simplicity: The Mediating Role of Spiritual Well-Being," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 149-174, September.
    9. Wang, Bei & Qian, Xuefeng & Li, Ying & Cao, Jia, 2024. "Pro-poor consumption effects of trade liberalization: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    10. Konstantinos Angelopoulos & Spyridon Lazarakis & James Malley, 2019. "Cyclical income risk in Great Britain," Working Papers 2019-03, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income risk; Consumption inequality; Wealth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth

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