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Habit Formation: Inplications For The Wealth Distribution

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Author Info
Josep Pijoan-Mas 2 ()
Antonia Díaz ()
José-Víctor Ríos-Rull ()

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Abstract

In this paper we study the role of habit formation in shaping the wealth distribution in an otherwise standard heterogeneous agents model economy with idiosyncratic uncertainty. We compare the inplications for precautionary savings and for wealth concentration between economies that only differ in the role played by habit formation. Once preferences are properly adjusted so that the Intertemporal Elasticity of Substituion is the same in all model economies studied, we find that habit formation brings a hefty increase in precautionary savings and very mild reductions in the coefficient of variation and in the Gini index of wealth. We also find that the reductions in these measures of inequality also hold when we adjust our economy so that aggregate savings are the same as in the economy without habit formation. These findings hold for both persistent and non persistent habits although for the former the quantitative size of the effects is much larger. We conclude that habit formation, while being a mechanism that increases the amount of precautionary savings generated in a model, does not change the implications for wealth inequality that arise from standard models.

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Paper provided by Universidad Carlos III, Departamento de Economía in its series Economics Working Papers with number we015114.

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Date of creation: Dec 2001
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Handle: RePEc:cte:werepe:we015114

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  7. Jeffrey C. Fuhrer, 2000. "Habit Formation in Consumption and Its Implications for Monetary-Policy Models," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(3), pages 367-390, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  22. Chatterjee, Satyajit, 1994. "Transitional dynamics and the distribution of wealth in a neoclassical growth model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 97-119, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Josep Pijoan-Mas, 2002. "Pricing Risk in Economies with Heterogenous Agents and Incomplete Markets," Centro de Alti­simos Estudios Ri­os Pe©rez(CAERP) 3, Centro de Altisimos Estudios Rios Perez (CAERP). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Julio Davila & Jay H. Hong & Per Krusell & José-Victor Rios Rull, 2005. "Constrained efficiency in the neoclassical growth model with uninsurable idiosyncratic shocks," Cahiers de la Maison des Sciences Economiques b05066, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Lutz Hendricks, 2005. "How Important is Discount Rate Heterogeneity for Wealth Inequality?," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
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  4. José Victor Rios-Rull, 2002. "Desigualdad, ¿qué sabemos?," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 26(2), pages 221-254, May. [Downloadable!]
  5. Francisco Gomes & Alexander Michaelides, 2003. "Portfolio Choice With Internal Habit Formation: A Life-Cycle Model With Uninsurable Labor Income Risk," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 6(4), pages 729-766, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Marco Cagetti & Mariacristina De Nardi, 2005. "Wealth inequality: data and models," Working Paper Series WP-05-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Satyajit Chatterjee & Dean Corbae, 2003. "On the welfare gains of eliminating a small likelihood of economic crises: A case for stabilization policies?," Working Papers 03-20, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
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