This paper analyzes the dispersion in consumption and earnings over the life-cycle. We first reexamine these facts by considering US data for the period (1980-2000) using alternative price deflators. We find that consumption and earnings dispersion increase with age, but that the increase in...

Is lifetime inequality mainly due to differences across people established early in life or to differences in luck experienced over the working lifetime? We answer this question within a model that features idiosyncratic shocks to human capital, estimated directly from data, as well as...

Is lifetime inequality mainly due to differences across people established early in life or to differences in luck experienced over the working lifetime? We answer this question within a model that features idiosyncratic shocks to human capital, estimated directly from data, as well as...

This paper investigates why high income households save on average a higher fraction of income than do low income households in US cross-section data. The three explanations considered are (1) age differences across households, (2) temporary earnings shocks and (3) the structure of social...

This paper investigates why high income households in the United States save on average more than low income households in cross-section data. The three explanations considered are (1) age differences across households, (2) temporary earnings shocks, and (3) the structure of transfer payments....

How will the distribution of welfare, consumption and leisure across households be affected by social security reform? This paper addresses this question for social security reforms with a two-tier structure by comparing steady states under a realistic version of the current US system and under...

How will the distribution of welfare, consumption and leisure across households be affected by social security reform? This paper addresses this question for social security reforms with a two-tier structure by comparing steady states under a realistic version of the current US system and under...