<p><p>When consumption goods are indivisible, individuals have to hold enough resources to cross a purchasing threshold. If individuals are liquidity constrained, they are unable to borrow to cross that threshold. Instead, we show that such individuals, even if risk averse, may choose to play gamble...</p></p>

Household borrowing and spending rise with house prices, particularly for leveraged households, but household spending is not consumption. We propose a borrow-to-invest motive by which house price gains affect household spending on residential investment: rational, leveraged households have an...

Job losers exhibit significant heterogeneity in wealth holdings and in the marginal propensity to consume transitory income. We consider potential sources of this heterogeneity, whether (some of) the unemployed face borrowing constraints, and the implications of this heterogeneity for...

This paper examines trends in household consumption and saving behaviour in each of the last three recessions in the UK. We identify several dimensions along which the most recent recession (the so-called 'Great Recession') has been different from those that occurred in the 1980s and 1990s....

This paper uses a survey-based approach to test alternative methods of channeling tax relief to donors - as a tax rebate for the donor or as a matched payment to the receiving charity. On accounting grounds these two are equivalent but, in line with earlier experimental studies, we find that...

In 1999 the UK government made major reforms to the system of child-contingent benefits, including the introduction of Working Families' Tax Credit and an increase in means-tested Income Support for families with children. Between 1999-2003 government spending per-child on these benefits rose by...

This paper uses UK panel data to shed further light on the fall in spending at retirement (the “retirement-consumption puzzle”). It compares the profiles of spending and well-being at retirement for different groups, defined according to whether retirement is voluntary or involuntary. Where...

This paper presents a detailed analysis of the composition of household portfolios, using both aggregate and micro-data. Among the key findings are that: Most household wealth is held in the form of housing and pensions. Over time, there has been a shift away from housing towards financial...

Natural disasters, such as the 2004 East Asian Tsunami, attract a high level of donations. Previous literature has shown that the scale of the disaster is important in driving the aid response, but there are inconsistent findings on whether the number killed or the number affected matters more....

Fundraising interventions may lift donations and/or shift their composition and timing, making it important to study their effect across charity space and time. We find that major fundraising appeals lift total donations, but surprisingly shift donations to other charities across time. To...