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Buffer-Stock Saving and Households' Response to Income Shocks

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  • Koeniger, Winfried
  • Fella, Giulio
  • Frache, Serafin

Abstract

We use the Italian Survey of Household Income and Wealth, a rather unique dataset with a long time dimension of panel information on consumption, income and wealth, to structurally estimate a buffer-stock saving model. We exploit the information contained in the joint dynamics of income, consumption and wealth to quantify the degree of insurance against income risk. The estimated model implies that Italian households can insure between 89 and 95 percent of a transitory and between 7 and 9 percent of a permanent income shock. Compared to existing empirical estimates for the same dataset, our findings suggest that Italian households do not have access to significant insurance beyond self-insurance.

Suggested Citation

  • Koeniger, Winfried & Fella, Giulio & Frache, Serafin, 2016. "Buffer-Stock Saving and Households' Response to Income Shocks," Economics Working Paper Series 1617, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:usg:econwp:2016:17
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    Cited by:

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    2. Christian Stoltenberg & Arne Uhlendorf, 2022. "Consumption Choices and Earnings Expectations: Empirical Evidence and Structural Estimation," Working Papers 2022-15, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumption; Wealth; Incomplete markets; Insurance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth

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