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The Income Fluctuation Problem with Capital Income Risk: Optimality and Stability

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  • Qingyin Ma
  • John Stachurski
  • Alexis Akira Toda

Abstract

This paper studies the income fluctuation problem with capital income risk (i.e., dispersion in the rate of return to wealth). Wealth returns and labor earnings are allowed to be serially correlated and mutually dependent. Rewards can be bounded or unbounded. Under rather general conditions, we develop a set of new results on the existence and uniqueness of solutions, stochastic stability of the model economy, as well as efficient computation of the ergodic wealth distribution. A variety of applications are discussed. Quantitative analysis shows that both stochastic volatility and mean persistence in wealth returns have nontrivial impact on wealth inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Qingyin Ma & John Stachurski & Alexis Akira Toda, 2018. "The Income Fluctuation Problem with Capital Income Risk: Optimality and Stability," Papers 1812.01320, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1812.01320
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    Cited by:

    1. Bar Light, 2019. "General equilibrium in a heterogeneous-agent incomplete-market economy with many consumption goods and a risk-free bond," Papers 1906.06810, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2021.

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