This paper explores the household behavior that underlies the link between wealth and consumption at the aggregate level. One possibility is that changes in wealth directly cause changes in consumption through their effect on households' contemporaneous budget sets; another possibility is that they merely predict changes in consumption because they signal changes in future income. Based on analysis of household-level data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, we find that direct wealth effects begin to show up relatively quickly and continue to boost consumption growth for a number of quarters, in line with aggregate estimates. In contrast, we find that the indirect wealth channel is not an important determinant of consumption growth. We also estimate that an additional dollar of wealth leads households with moderate securities holdings to increase consumption between 5 cents and 15 cents, with the most likely gain in the lower part of this range.
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Xavier Gabaix & David Laibson, 2002.
"The 6D Bias and the Equity-Premium Puzzle,"
NBER Chapters,
in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2001, Volume 16, pages 257-330
National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!]
Karen E. Dynan & Jonathan Skinner & Stephen P. Zeldes, 2000.
"Do the Rich Save More?,"
NBER Working Papers
7906, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Karen E. Dynan & Jonathan Skinner & Stephen P. Zeldes, 2004.
"Do the Rich Save More?,"
Journal of Political Economy,
University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(2), pages 397-444, April.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Orazio Attanasio, 1994.
"Personal Saving in the United States,"
NBER Chapters,
in: International Comparisons of Household Saving, pages 57-124
National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!]
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