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Consumption Growth, Income Growth and Earings Uncertainty: Simple Cross-Country Evidence

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  • Hahm Joon-Ho

Abstract

The Consumption growth/income growth parallel found in the low frequency cross Country aggregate data has been interpreted as evidence against the certainty equivalence life-cycle/permanent income hypothesis. This paper analyzes existence of precautionary premia in consumption growth as a potential source of the parallel, and tests the hypothesis that countries with inherently larger earning uncertainty show systematically steeper consumption growth paths and higher saving rates. Empirical results indicate a potentially important role of precautionary saving motives in explaining the cross-country differentials in consumption growth and saving rate. However, the presence of precautionary premia is not enough to account for the high correlation between average consumption growth and average income growth across countries. I conclude that the consumption growth/income growth parallel remains as a robust long-run empirical relationship challenging the life-cycle/permanent income hypothesis.

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  • Hahm Joon-Ho, 1999. "Consumption Growth, Income Growth and Earings Uncertainty: Simple Cross-Country Evidence," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 39-58.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:intecj:v:13:y:1999:i:2:p:39-58
    DOI: 10.1080/10168739900000036
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    3. Bent E. Sorensen & Maria J. Luengo-Prado, 2004. "The Buffer Stock Model and the Aggregate Propensity to Consume," Econometric Society 2004 North American Summer Meetings 457, Econometric Society.
    4. Garz, Marcel, 2014. "Consumption, labor income uncertainty, and economic news coverage," MPRA Paper 56076, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Baiardi, Donatella & Manera, Matteo & Menegatti, Mario, 2013. "Consumption and precautionary saving: An empirical analysis under both financial and environmental risks," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 157-166.
    6. Alba Lugilde & Roberto Bande & Dolores Riveiro, 2018. "Precautionary saving in Spain during the great recession: evidence from a panel of uncertainty indicators," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 1151-1179, December.
    7. Zhou, Yanfei, 2003. "Precautionary saving and earnings uncertainty in Japan: A household-level analysis," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 192-212, June.
    8. Mario Menegatti, 2007. "Consumption and uncertainty: a panel analysis in Italian Regions," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 39-42.
    9. Mario Menegatti, 2010. "Uncertainty And Consumption: New Evidence In Oecd Countries," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(3), pages 227-242, July.
    10. Lugilde, Alba & Bande, Roberto & Riveiro, Dolores, 2017. "Precautionary Saving: a review of the theory and the evidence," MPRA Paper 77511, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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