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Revealed Preference Analysis with Normal Goods: Application to Cost-of-Living Indices

Author

Listed:
  • Laurens Cherchye
  • Thomas Demuynck
  • Bram De Rock
  • Khushboo Surana

Abstract

We present a revealed preference methodology for nonparametric demand analysis under the assumption of normal goods. Our methodology is flexible in that it allows for imposing normality on any subset of goods. We show the usefulness of our methodology for empirical welfare analysis through cost-of-living indices. An illustration to US consumption data drawn from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) demonstrates that mild normality assumptions can substantially strengthen the empirical analysis. It obtains considerably tighter bounds on cost-of-living indices and a significantly more informative classification of better-off and worse-off individuals after the 2008 financial crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • Laurens Cherchye & Thomas Demuynck & Bram De Rock & Khushboo Surana, 2020. "Revealed Preference Analysis with Normal Goods: Application to Cost-of-Living Indices," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 165-188, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmic:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:165-88
    DOI: 10.1257/mic.20180133
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Khushboo Surana, 2022. "How different are we? Identifying the degree of revealed preference heterogeneity," Discussion Papers 22/09, Department of Economics, University of York.
    2. Elin Colmsjoe, 2025. "A Flying Start intergenerational Transfers , Wealth Accumalation, and Entrepreneurship of Descendants," CEBI working paper series 24-02, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. The Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI).
    3. Mingshi Chen & Tracy Xiao Liu & You Shan & Shu Wang & Songfa Zhong & Yanju Zhou, 2025. "How General Are Measures of Choice Consistency? Evidence from Experimental and Scanner Data," Papers 2505.05275, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2025.
    4. Hjertstrand, Per, 2025. "The marginal utility of income and homogeneous demand systems," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    5. Martin Browning & Laurens Cherchye & Thomas Demuynck & Bram de Rock & Frederic Vermeulen, 2024. "Spouses with benefits: on match quality and consumption inside households," CEBI working paper series 24-14, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. The Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises

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    1. Revealed Preference Analysis with Normal Goods: Application to Cost-of-Living Indices (AEJ:MI 2020) in ReplicationWiki

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