Safety first consumption

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Sattinger, Michael
• 署名单位: State University of New York (SUNY) System; University at Albany, SUNY
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0531
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2012.12.011
• 发表日期: 2013
• 页码: 306-321
• 关键词: Safety first; Saving; uncertainty; Discontinuity; Poverty trap

摘要

This paper develops a model of safety first consumption behavior in which the likelihood of survival to the next period depends on current consumption levels. Below a threshold asset level, individuals follow a decumulation path, and above that level they follow an accumulation path. Saving rates then vary discontinuously with asset level, generating a poverty trap and divergence in incomes. An increase in the likelihood of surviving raises aggregate saving. A more equitable distribution of assets can be consistent with greater aggregate savings and growth because of declining marginal propensity to save over some asset intervals. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.