IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/udc/esteco/v37y2010i1p5-36.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The welfare cost of external habits: a quantitative assessment

Author

Listed:
  • Manuel A. Gómez

    ()

Abstract

This paper quantifies the welfare cost of consumption externalities in an endogenous growth model with habit formation. Agent’s utility depends on both current consumption and a reference consumption level determined by economy-wide average past consumption. Although utility may be lower in the presence of consumption externalities, the welfare loss relative to the efficient growth path is found to be very small. This result is extremely robust to variations in the parameter values. However, there are relatively important differences in the timing of the welfare loss and in generational welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • Manuel A. Gómez, 2010. "The welfare cost of external habits: a quantitative assessment," Estudios de Economia, University of Chile, Department of Economics, vol. 37(1 Year 20), pages 5-26, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:udc:esteco:v:37:y:2010:i:1:p:5-36
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.econ.uchile.cl/uploads/publicacion/397b0cdc5d9ac6a4bd0509047197f0064bd16e21.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Diaz, Antonia & Pijoan-Mas, Josep & Rios-Rull, Jose-Victor, 2003. "Precautionary savings and wealth distribution under habit formation preferences," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(6), pages 1257-1291, September.
    2. Jody Overland & Christopher D. Carroll & David N. Weil, 2000. "Saving and Growth with Habit Formation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(3), pages 341-355, June.
    3. Alonso-Carrera, Jaime & Caballe, Jordi & Raurich, Xavier, 2005. "Growth, habit formation, and catching-up with the Joneses," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 1665-1691, August.
    4. Turnovsky, Stephen J. & Monteiro, Goncalo, 2007. "Consumption externalities, production externalities, and efficient capital accumulation under time non-separable preferences," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 479-504, February.
    5. Carroll, Christopher D & Overland, Jody & Weil, David N, 1997. "Comparison Utility in a Growth Model," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 2(4), pages 339-367, December.
    6. Abel, Andrew B, 1990. "Asset Prices under Habit Formation and Catching Up with the Joneses," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(2), pages 38-42, May.
    7. Ferraguto Giuseppe & Pagano Patrizio, 2003. "Endogenous Growth with Intertemporally Dependent Preferences," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-40, November.
    8. Been-Lon Chen, 2007. "Multiple BGPs in a Growth Model with Habit Persistence," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(1), pages 25-48, February.
    9. repec:dgr:kubcen:199554 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Francisco Alvarez-Cuadrado & Goncalo Monteiro & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2004. "Habit Formation, Catching Up with the Joneses, and Economic Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 47-80, March.
    11. Jaime Alonso-Carrera & Jordi Caballé & Xavier Raurich, 2006. "Welfare Implications Of The Interaction Between Habits And Consumption Externalities," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 47(2), pages 557-571, May.
    12. Jhy-yuan Shieh & Ching-chong Lai & Wen-ya Chang, 2000. "Addictive behavior and endogenous growth," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 263-273, October.
    13. Bill Dupor & Wen-Fang Liu, 2003. "Jealousy and Equilibrium Overconsumption," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 423-428, March.
    14. John Y. Campbell & John Cochrane, 1999. "Force of Habit: A Consumption-Based Explanation of Aggregate Stock Market Behavior," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(2), pages 205-251, April.
    15. Chris Tsoukis, 2007. "Keeping Up With The Joneses, Growth, And Distribution," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 54(4), pages 575-600, September.
    16. Mansoorian, Arman & Michelis, Leo, 2005. "Money, habits and growth," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1267-1285, July.
    17. Rebelo, Sergio, 1991. "Long-Run Policy Analysis and Long-Run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 500-521, June.
    18. Martin Lettau & Harald Uhlig, 2000. "Can Habit Formation be Reconciled with Business Cycle Facts?," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 3(1), pages 79-99, January.
    19. Lawrence J. Christiano & Michele Boldrin & Jonas D. M. Fisher, 2001. "Habit Persistence, Asset Returns, and the Business Cycle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 149-166, March.
    20. Constantinides, George M, 1990. "Habit Formation: A Resolution of the Equity Premium Puzzle," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(3), pages 519-543, June.
    21. Patrick Toche, 2009. "Multiple BGPs in a Growth Model with Habit Persistence: A Comment," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(1), pages 189-195, February.
    22. Manoj Atolia & Edward F. Buffie, 2004. "Reverse Shooting Made Easy: Solving for the Global Nonlinear Saddle Path," Working Papers wp2009_01_01, Department of Economics, Florida State University, revised Jan 2009.
    23. Diaz, Antonia & Pijoan-Mas, Josep & Rios-Rull, Jose-Victor, 2003. "Precautionary savings and wealth distribution under habit formation preferences," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(6), pages 1257-1291, September.
    24. Jeffrey C. Fuhrer, 2000. "Habit Formation in Consumption and Its Implications for Monetary-Policy Models," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(3), pages 367-390, June.
    25. Liu, Wen-Fang & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2005. "Consumption externalities, production externalities, and long-run macroeconomic efficiency," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(5-6), pages 1097-1129, June.
    26. Gruner, Hans Peter & Heer, Burkhard, 2000. "Optimal Flat-Rate Taxes on Capital--A Re-examination of Lucas' Supply Side Model," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 52(2), pages 289-305, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Welfare; Habit formation; Endogenous growth;

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:udc:esteco:v:37:y:2010:i:1:p:5-36. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Verónica Kunze). General contact details of provider: http://edirc.repec.org/data/deuclcl.html .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.