Methods for nonparametric estimation and comparison of cross section Engel curves are presented and applied to U.K. expenditure data. Real Engel curves (with quantity demanded and real total expenditure on the axes) vary over time, but their shapes are generally quite stable. Mean normalized...

For market demand to satisfy the law of demand, it is sufficient that the mean of all households' income effect matrices is positive definite. The authors show how this mean income effect matrix can be estimated from cross section data under metonymy, an assumption about the distribution of...

This paper derives observable properties of economies with optimal income distribution rules that specify consumers' incomes as functions of aggregate income and prices. Optimality implies that the aggregate demand function is generated by a single 'representative' consumer. The author derives...