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Are Millennials Different?

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Abstract

The economic wellbeing of the millennial generation, which entered its working-age years around the time of the 2007-09 recession, has received considerable attention from economists and the popular press. This chapter compares the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of millennials with those of earlier generations and compares their income, saving, and consumption expenditures. Relative to members of earlier generations, millennials are more racially diverse, more educated, and more likely to have deferred marriage; these comparisons are continuations of longer-run trends in the population. Millennials are less well off than members of earlier generations when they were young, with lower earnings, fewer assets, and less wealth. For debt, millennials hold levels similar to those of Generation X and more than those of the baby boomers. Conditional on their age and other factors, millennials do not appear to have preferences for consumption that differ signi ficantly from those of earlier generations.

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  • Christopher J. Kurz & Geng Li & Daniel J. Vine, 2018. "Are Millennials Different?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2018-080, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2018-80
    DOI: 10.17016/FEDS.2018.080
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    Cited by:

    1. Vivian Weiqun Lou & Clio Yuen Man Cheng & Doris Sau Fung Yu & Daniel Fu Keung Wong & Daniel W. L. Lai & Alice Ming Lin Chong & Shuangzhou Chen & Kee Lee Chou, 2022. "Meaning Making as a Lifebuoy in Dementia Caregiving: Predicting Depression from a Generation Perspective Using a Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-17, November.
    2. Christopher R. Knittel & Elizabeth Murphy, 2019. "Generational Trends in Vehicle Ownership and Use: Are Millennials Any Different?," NBER Working Papers 25674, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumption; Balance sheets; Generations; Households; Millennials; Motor vehicles;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D15 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Intertemporal Household Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance

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