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Reference-Dependent Consumption Plans

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Author Info
Botond Koszegi
Matthew Rabin
Abstract

We develop a rational dynamic model in which people are loss averse over changes in beliefs about present and future consumption. Because changes in wealth are news about future consumption, preferences over money are reference-dependent. If news resonates more when about imminent consumption than when about future consumption, a decision maker might (to generate pleasant surprises) overconsume early relative to the optimal committed plan, increase immediate consumption following surprise wealth increases, and delay decreasing consumption following surprise losses. Since higher wealth mitigates the effect of bad news, people exhibit an unambiguous first-order precautionary-savings motive. (JEL D14, D81, D83, D91)

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1257/aer.99.3.909
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File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.99.3.909
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Publisher Info
Article provided by American Economic Association in its journal American Economic Review.

Volume (Year): 99 (2009)
Issue (Month): 3 (June)
Pages: 909-36
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Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:99:y:2009:i:3:p:909-36

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  1. Vincent Crawford & Juanjuan Meng, 2008. "New York City Cabdrivers' Labor Supply Revisited: Reference-Dependence Preferences with Rational-Expectations Targets for Hours and Income," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series 2008-03, Department of Economics, UC San Diego. [Downloadable!]
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-16.

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