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Representing Consumption and Saving without a Representative Consumer

In: Measuring Economic Sustainability and Progress

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  • Christopher D. Carroll

Abstract

The Great Recession confirmed a bedrock principle of modern consumption theory: It is impossible to explain aggregate spending behavior without knowledge of the underlying microeconomic distribution of circumstances and choices across households. National accounting frameworks therefore need to be augmented by "bottom up" measures that both (a) capture the microeconomic heterogeneity (in expenditures, income, assets, debt, and beliefs) in the population and (b) sum up to statistics that have a recognizable relationship to the aggregate totals that are already reasonably well measured.
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  • Christopher D. Carroll, 2014. "Representing Consumption and Saving without a Representative Consumer," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Economic Sustainability and Progress, pages 115-134, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:12830
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jason DeBacker & Bradley Heim & Vasia Panousi & Shanthi Ramnath & Ivan Vidangos, 2013. "Rising Inequality: Transitory or Persistent? New Evidence from a Panel of U.S. Tax Returns," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 46(1 (Spring), pages 67-142.
    2. Claus Thustrup Kreiner & David Dreyer Lassen & Søren Leth-Petersen, 2014. "Measuring the Accuracy of Survey Responses Using Administrative Register Data: Evidence from Denmark," NBER Chapters, in: Improving the Measurement of Consumer Expenditures, pages 289-307, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Jonathan A. Parker & Nicholas S. Souleles & Christopher D. Carroll, 2014. "The Benefits of Panel Data in Consumer Expenditure Surveys," NBER Chapters, in: Improving the Measurement of Consumer Expenditures, pages 75-99, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Christopher D. Carroll, 2004. "Theoretical Foundations of Buffer Stock Saving," Economics Working Paper Archive 517, The Johns Hopkins University,Department of Economics.
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    6. Mr. Christopher Carroll & Mr. Martin Sommer & Mr. Jiri Slacalek, 2012. "Dissecting Saving Dynamics: Measuring Wealth, Precautionary, and Credit Effects," IMF Working Papers 2012/219, International Monetary Fund.
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    8. Ralph Koijen & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh & Roine Vestman, 2014. "Judging the Quality of Survey Data by Comparison with "Truth" as Measured by Administrative Records: Evidence From Sweden," NBER Chapters, in: Improving the Measurement of Consumer Expenditures, pages 308-346, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bram De Rock & Bart Capéau, 2015. "The implications of household size and children for life-cycle saving," Working Paper Research 286, National Bank of Belgium.
    2. Michael M. Batty & Jesse Bricker & Joseph S. Briggs & Alice Henriques Volz & Elizabeth Ball Holmquist & Susan Hume McIntosh & Kevin B. Moore & Eric R. Nielsen & Sarah Reber & Molly Shatto & Kamila Som, 2019. "Introducing the Distributional Financial Accounts of the United States," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2019-017, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    3. Michael Batty & Jesse Bricker & Joseph Briggs & Sarah Friedman & Danielle Nemschoff & Eric Nielsen & Kamila Sommer & Alice Henriques Volz, 2021. "The Distributional Financial Accounts of the United States," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Distribution and Mobility of Income and Wealth, pages 641-677, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty

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