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Reexamining the consumption-wealth relationship: the role of model uncertainty

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  • Gary Koop
  • Simon M. Potter
  • Rodney W. Strachan

Abstract

In their influential work on the consumption-wealth relationship, Lettau and Ludvigson found that while consumption responds to permanent changes in wealth in the expected manner, most changes in wealth are transitory with no effect on consumption. We investigate the robustness of these results to model uncertainty using Bayesian model averaging. We find that there is model uncertainty with regard to the number of cointegrating vectors, the form of deterministic components, lag length, and whether the cointegrating residuals affect consumption and income directly. Whether this uncertainty has important implications depends on the researcher's attitude toward this economic theory used by Lettau and Ludvigson. If we work with their exact model, our findings are very similar. However, if we work with a broader set of models, we find that the exact magnitude of the role of permanent shocks is difficult to estimate precisely. Thus, although some support exists for the view that the role of shocks is small, we cannot rule out the possibility that they have a substantive effect on consumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Gary Koop & Simon M. Potter & Rodney W. Strachan, 2005. "Reexamining the consumption-wealth relationship: the role of model uncertainty," Staff Reports 202, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
  • Handle: RePEc:fip:fednsr:202
    Note: For a published version of this report, see Gary Koop, Simon M. Potter, and Rodney W. Strachan, "Re-examining the Consumption-Wealth Relationship: The Role of Model Uncertainty," Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking 40, no. 2-3 (March/April 2008): 341-67.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rossi, Barbara, 2013. "Advances in Forecasting under Instability," Handbook of Economic Forecasting, in: G. Elliott & C. Granger & A. Timmermann (ed.), Handbook of Economic Forecasting, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1203-1324, Elsevier.
    2. Markus Jochmann & Gary Koop & Roberto Leon‐Gonzalez & Rodney W. Strachan, 2013. "Stochastic search variable selection in vector error correction models with an application to a model of the UK macroeconomy," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 62-81, January.
    3. Chen, Jie, 2006. "Housing Wealth and Aggregate Consumption in Sweden," Working Paper Series 2006:16, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    4. Jochmann Markus & Koop Gary, 2015. "Regime-switching cointegration," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 19(1), pages 35-48, February.
    5. Todd E. Clark & Michael W. McCracken, 2010. "Averaging forecasts from VARs with uncertain instabilities," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(1), pages 5-29, January.
    6. Olivier Allain, 2011. "The impact of income distribution on consumption: a reassessment," Post-Print hal-00712657, HAL.
    7. Chen, Jie, 2006. "Re-evaluating the association between housing wealth and aggregate consumption: New evidence from Sweden," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 321-348, December.
    8. İşcan, Talan B., 2011. "Productivity growth and the U.S. saving rate," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 501-514.
    9. Frank Schmid, 2013. "Wealth Effects on Consumption in Switzerland," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 149(I), pages 87-110, March.
    10. Yang, Zan & Wang, S.T., 2012. "Permanent and transitory shocks in owner-occupied housing: A common trend model of price dynamics," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 336-346.
    11. Márquez, Elena & Martínez-Cañete, Ana R. & Pérez-Soba, Inés, 2013. "Wealth shocks, credit conditions and asymmetric consumption response: Empirical evidence for the UK," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 357-366.
    12. Justyna Wróblewska, 2009. "Bayesian Model Selection in the Analysis of Cointegration," Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, vol. 1(1), pages 57-69, March.
    13. Maltritz, Dominik, 2012. "Determinants of sovereign yield spreads in the Eurozone: A Bayesian approach," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 657-672.
    14. Boysen-Hogrefe, Jens & Dovern, Jonas & Gern, Klaus-Jürgen & Jannsen, Nils & Van Roye, Björn & Sander, Birgit & Scheide, Joachim & Boss, Alfred & Meier, Carsten-Patrick, 2008. "Weltkonjunktur und deutsche Konjunktur im Winter 2008," Kiel Discussion Papers 459/460, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    15. Maltritz, Dominik & Molchanov, Alexander, 2013. "Analyzing determinants of bond yield spreads with Bayesian Model Averaging," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5275-5284.
    16. Maltritz, Dominik & Molchanov, Alexander, 2014. "Country credit risk determinants with model uncertainty," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 224-234.
    17. Ren, Yu & Yuan, Yufei & Zhang, Yang, 2014. "Human capital, household capital and asset returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 11-22.
    18. Mattias Villani, 2009. "Steady-state priors for vector autoregressions," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(4), pages 630-650.
    19. repec:rim:rimwps:26-08 is not listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    wealth effects; vector error correction model; Bayesian model averaging; cointegration; variance decomposition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C11 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Bayesian Analysis: General
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth

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