The authors assess the empirical validity of the life-cycle model using a time series of cross sections and a novel parametrization of preferences. The main findings are as follows: the excess sensitivity of consumption growth to labor income disappears when the authors control for demographic...

We develop an equilibrium wage-posting model with heterogeneous firms that decide to locate in the formal or the informal sector and workers who search randomly on and off the job. We estimate the model on Brazilian labor force survey data. In equilibrium, firms of equal productivity locate in...

We specify a life-cycle model of consumption, labor supply and job mobility in an economy with search frictions. We distinguish different sources of risk, including shocks to productivity, job arrival, and job destruction. Allowing for job mobility has a large effect on the estimate of...

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...

This paper addresses whether households save enough for their retirement. For successive date-of-birth cohorts the authors analyze income and expenditure patterns around the time of retirement. They find a fall in consumption as household heads retire which cannot be fully explained by a...

The aim of this paper is to assess the importance of using micro-level data in the econometric analysis of consumer demand. To do this, the authors utilize a time series of repeated cross sections covering some 4,000 households in each of fifteen years. Employing a number of different...