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Permanent Income Shocks, Target Wealth, and the Wealth Gap

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  • Jappelli, Tullio
  • Pistaferri, Luigi
Abstract
We test the key implication of the buffer stock model, namely that any revision in permanent income leads to a proportionate revision in target wealth. We use panel data on the amount of wealth held for precautionary purposes available in the 2002-2016 SHIW. Using an instrumental variable approach to overcome measurement error issues and direct estimates of the permanent component of income, we find that households indeed revise approximately one-for-one their target wealth in response to permanent income shocks. We explore heterogeneity of the response across the cash-on-hand distribution, for positive and negative shocks, and for shocks of different size. We also find that the change in the ratio of cash-on-hand to permanent income is negatively correlated with the “wealth gap†, particularly for individuals whose wealth is substantially above target.

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  • Jappelli, Tullio & Pistaferri, Luigi, 2020. "Permanent Income Shocks, Target Wealth, and the Wealth Gap," CEPR Discussion Papers 15145, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15145
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Carmen Aina & Daniela Sonedda, 2022. "Sooner or later? The impact of child education on household consumption," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(4), pages 2071-2099, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Buffer stock model; Target wealth; Wealth gap; Permanent income shocks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth

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