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  4. September 2010
  5. Consumption and Saving: Models of Intertemporal Allocation and Their Implications for Public Policy

Journal of Economic Literature

ISSN 0022-0515 (Print) | ISSN 2328-8175 (Online)

Consumption and Saving: Models of Intertemporal Allocation and Their Implications for Public Policy

  • Orazio P. Attanasio
  • Guglielmo Weber
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 48, no. 3, September 2010
(pp. 693–751)
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Abstract

This paper provides a critical survey of the large literature on the life cycle model of consumption, both from an empirical and a theoretical point of view. It discusses several approaches that have been taken in the literature to bring the model to the data, their empirical successes, and their failures. Finally, the paper reviews a number of changes to the standard life cycle model that could help solve the remaining empirical puzzles.

Citation

Attanasio, Orazio P., and Guglielmo Weber. 2010. "Consumption and Saving: Models of Intertemporal Allocation and Their Implications for Public Policy." Journal of Economic Literature, 48 (3): 693–751. DOI: 10.1257/jel.48.3.693

JEL Classification

  • D15 Intertemporal Consumer Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
  • E21 Macroeconomics: Consumption; Saving; Wealth