Uncertainty and consumer durables adjustment

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bertola, G; Guiso, L; Pistaferri, L
• 署名单位: University of Turin; University of Sassari; Stanford University
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6527
• DOI: 10.1111/0034-6527.00358
• 发表日期: 2005
• 页码: 973-1007
• 关键词: Stocks; BIAS

摘要

We characterize infrequent durables stock adjustment by consumers who also derive utility from non-durable consumption flows in the presence of idiosyncratic income uncertainty. The data we analyse include subjective future income uncertainty measures, which we use as instruments in the estimation of relevant parameters of heterogeneous consumers' dynamic adjustment problems. The data feature two conceptually distinct sources of variation: cross-sectional heterogeneity of the sampled households' dynamic problems, and history-dependent heterogeneity in their situation during the observation period. We note that the latter should affect the likelihood but not the size of stock adjustment decisions, and find broad support for theoretical predictions in formal selection-controlled regressions based on this insight.