England has very volatile house prices. Using survey data spanning multiple house-price cycles over nearly forty years, we document the association between house prices and homeownership at age thirty. We then use synthetic cohort methods to assess whether differences in early ownership rates...

We estimate marginal propensities to consume from wealth shocks for Italian households. Large asset price shocks in 2008 underpin an IV estimator. A euro fall in financial or risky financial wealth resulted in cuts in annual total (non-durable) consumption of 5-9 (3.5-6) cents. There is evidence...

In this paper we show the extent that home ownership varies over the life-cycle and differs by cohort and by education. We explain these differences in a calibrated model of life-cycle behaviour where households choose labour supply and consumption and also home-ownership status. Home-ownership...

This paper models individual demand for housing over the life-cycle, and shows the implications of this behaviour for aggregate demand. Individuals delay purchasing their first home when incomes are low or uncertain. This delay is exacerbated by downpayment constraints. Higher house prices lead...

We investigate whether initial differences in speed of entry into homeownership lead to longlasting differences in ownership between generations. Our data span nearly forty years and multiple cycles of England’s very volatile house prices. We document that ownership rates at thirty have...

The aim of this paper is to understand what a recession means for individual consumers, and to model in a life-cycle framework how individuals respond to recessions. Our focus is on the sharp increase in savings rates that have been observed in the current and recent recessions. We show...

In raw data in the UK, the income loss on separation for women who were cohabiting is less than the loss for those who were married. Cohabitees lose less even after matching on observable characteristics including age and children. This difference is not explained by differences in access to...

This paper analyses the trade-off between the incentive effects of increased uncertainty and the welfare benefits of risk-sharing in the design of optimal tax schedules. We use numerical methods to characterise the tax schedule and to give comparative static results of changing risk aversion,...

Government policies toward the financial sector of an economy can distort both the cost of borrowing and the return to saving. Such policies involve restrictions on the degree of competition in the financial sector, the deposit rates set by the banks, and on reserves held by banks. Determining...