We conduct empirical tests of a simplified version of the ratio habit model developed in Abel(1990), in which habit is extended beyond the preceding period. We show that change in four-year consumption growth---the measure of consumption resulting from our ratio habit preference---explains the...

This paper estimates and tests several versions of the consumption-based asset pricing model extended to allow for time-nonseparable preferences and/or liquidity constraint proxies, using Canadian aggregate data. It is found that a habit-persistence effect uncovered in the time-nonseparable...

This paper assesses whether the global fall in inflation expectations together with increased fear of recession, the economic mechanism that drives asset prices in a model with consumption habits, help to explain the downward trajectory in nominal government bond yields and the stock price...

Two broad classes of consumption dynamics - long-run risks and rare disasters - have proven successful in explaining the equity premium puzzle when used in conjunction with recursive preference. We show that bounds a-la Gallant, Hansen and Tauchen (1990) that restrict the volatility of the...

Using information in returns we identify the stochastic process of consumption – the crucial ingredient of most macro-finance models. We find that aggregate consumption reacts over multiple quarters to innovations spanned by financial markets, and this persistent component accounts for 26% of...

This paper provides evidence of habit persistence in household consumption choices. I find that the strength of external habit, captured by the fraction of the consumption of the reference group that enters the utility function, is 0.290, and the strength of internal habit, represented by...

A unified framework for understanding asset prices and aggregate fluctuations is critical for understanding both issues. I show that a real business cycle model with external habit preferences and capital adjustment costs provides one such framework. The estimated model matches the first two...