Consumption Inequality and Partial Insurance

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Blundell, Richard; Pistaferri, Luigi; Preston, Ian
• 署名单位: University of London; University College London; Stanford University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.98.5.1887
• 发表日期: 2008
• 页码: 1887-1921
• 关键词: LIFE-CYCLE EARNINGS; covariance structure; tax-reform; panel data; income; Heterogeneity; DYNAMICS; welfare; uncertainty; variance

摘要

This paper examines the link between income and consumption inequality. We create panel data on consumption for the Panel study of Income dynamics using an imputation procedure based on food demand estimates from. the Consumer Expenditure Survey. We document a disjuncture between income and consumption inequality over the 1980s and show that it can be explained by changes in the persistence of income shocks. We find some partial insurance of permanent shocks, especially for the college educated and those near retirement. We find full insurance of transitory shocks except among poor households. Taxes, transfers, and family labor supply play all important role in insuring permanent shocks.