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The Representative Agent Hypothesis: An Empirical Test

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Author Info
Manisha Chakrabarty
Anke Schmalenbach

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Abstract

This paper empirically tests the validity of using only mean income as a representative variable for the whole population in the aggregate consumption relation and of assuming time-invariance of the coefficients in this relation, as done in macromodels. We use a statistical distributional approach of aggregation to test these properties on the UK-Family Expenditure Survey [1974-1993]. It is observed that the time-invariance assumption is rejected in most cases. A bootstrap test also suggests that in addition to mean income, the dispersion of income matters significantly for the commodity group services in several years and for clothing & footwear and total nondurable in some years, thus invalidating the representative agent hypothesis.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by University of Bonn, Germany in its series Bonn Econ Discussion Papers with number bgse26_2002.

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Length: 17
Date of creation: Oct 2002
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:bon:bonedp:bgse26_2002

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Postal: Bonn Graduate School of Economics, University of Bonn, Adenauerallee 24 - 26, 53113 Bonn, Germany
Fax: +49 228 73 9221
Web page: http://www.bgse.uni-bonn.de/index.php?id=494

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Related research
Keywords: Representative Agent Hypothesis; Time Invariance; Heterogeneity;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
C12 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: General - - - Hypothesis Testing
C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods
D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth

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References listed on IDEAS
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. Stoker, Thomas M, 1993. "Empirical Approaches to the Problem of Aggregation Over Individuals," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 31(4), pages 1827-74, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Kirman, Alan P, 1992. "Whom or What Does the Representative Individual Represent?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(2), pages 117-36, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Hildenbrand, Werner, 1998. "How relevant are specifications of behavioral relations on the micro-level for modelling the time path of population aggregates?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(3-5), pages 437-458, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Attanasio, Orazio P., 1999. "Consumption," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 11, pages 741-812 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. repec:cup:etheor:v:8:y:1992:i:2:p:276-90 is not listed on IDEAS
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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. Jürgen Arns & Kaushik Bhattacharya, 2005. "Modelling Aggregate Consumption Growth with Time-Varying Parameters," Bonn Econ Discussion Papers bgse15_2005, University of Bonn, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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This page was last updated on 2009-12-8.

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