Attainable Non-optimality or Unattainable Optimality: A New Approach to Stochastic Life Cycle Problems.

When future income is uncertain, the standard model of stochastic life cycle behavior does not provide an operatio nal basis for consumer choice because it is too complex to be solved either analytically or intuitively by the human brain (even if computer-assisted). This paper proposes an alternative model of intertemporal decision-making that takes full account of the future, including future uncertainty, but which is analytically tractable. T he model is applied to some illustrative examples. Copyright 1993 by Royal Economic Society.