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Measuring Noise in the Permanent Income Hypothesis

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Listed author(s):
  • Engsted, Tom

    ()

    (Department of Finance, Aarhus School of Business)

Abstract

Based on a number of deviation measures, Kim (1996) finds that postwar US consumption deviates from the Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH) by only around 4 percent. In the present paper we investigate in more detail the extent to which the PIH provides a good approximation to US consumption data. We point out some unappealing features in the methods suggested by Kim, and we propose a method that does not have these drawbacks. In particular, we argue that due to the non-stationarity that characterizes consumption and income, deviation measure should be expressed in terms of saving rather than consumption. By applying our proposed method we find that in general US saving deviates fromPIH saving by substantially more than 4 percent. We also document that the behavior of US consumption in the 1990s has turned saving into a non-stationary process, which is strongly at odds with the PIH.

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File URL: http://www.hha.dk/fin/finance/RESEARCH/D00_8.PDF
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Paper provided by University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Business Studies in its series Finance Working Papers with number 00-8.

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Length: 22 pages
Date of creation: 01 Feb 2000
Handle: RePEc:hhb:aarfin:2000_008
Note: Later published in Journal of Macroeconomics
Contact details of provider: Postal:
The Aarhus School of Business, Fuglesangs Allé 4, DK-8210 Aarhus V, Denmark

Fax: + 45 86 15 19 43
Web page: http://www.asb.dk/about/departments/bs.aspx

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Keywords: Stimulation Models; Permanent Income Hypothesis;

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  1. Gali, Jordi, 1991. "Budget Constraints and Time-Series Evidence on Consumption," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(5), pages 1238-1253, December.
  2. Flavin, Marjorie A, 1983. "Excess Volatility in the Financial Markets: A Reassessment of the Empirical Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 91(6), pages 929-956, December.
  3. Francis X. Diebold & Lee E. Ohanian & Jeremy Berkowitz, 1998. "Dynamic Equilibrium Economies: A Framework for Comparing Models and Data," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 65(3), pages 433-451.
  4. Watson, Mark W, 1993. "Measures of Fit for Calibrated Models," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(6), pages 1011-1041, December.
  5. Hansen, Lars Peter & Jagannathan, Ravi, 1997. " Assessing Specification Errors in Stochastic Discount Factor Models," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 557-590, June.
  6. John Campbell & Angus Deaton, 1989. "Why is Consumption So Smooth?," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(3), pages 357-373.
  7. Sims, Christopher A, 1980. "Macroeconomics and Reality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(1), pages 1-48, January.
  8. Martin Lettau, 2001. "Consumption, Aggregate Wealth, and Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 815-849, 06.
  9. Richard Peach & Charles Steindel, 2000. "A nation of spendthrifts? An analysis of trends in personal and gross saving," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 6(Sep).
  10. Sydney Ludvigson & Charles Steindel, 1999. "How important is the stock market effect on consumption?," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Jul, pages 29-51.
  11. West, Kenneth D., 1988. "The insensitivity of consumption to news about income," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 17-33, January.
  12. Campbell, John Y, 1987. "Does Saving Anticipate Declining Labor Income? An Alternative Test of the Permanent Income Hypothesis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(6), pages 1249-1273, November.
  13. Sims, Christopher A & Stock, James H & Watson, Mark W, 1990. "Inference in Linear Time Series Models with Some Unit Roots," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(1), pages 113-144, January.
  14. Campbell, John Y. & Mankiw, N. Gregory, 1991. "The response of consumption to income : A cross-country investigation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 723-756, May.
  15. Campbell, John Y & Shiller, Robert J, 1987. "Cointegration and Tests of Present Value Models," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(5), pages 1062-1088, October.
  16. Engsted, Tom & Haldrup, Niels, 1999. "Estimating the LQAC Model with I(2) Variables," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(2), pages 155-170, March-Apr.
  17. Kim, Chulsoo, 1996. "Measuring Deviations from the Permanent Income Hypothesis," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 37(1), pages 205-225, February.
  18. Gali, Jordi, 1990. "Finite horizons, life-cycle savings, and time-series evidence on consumption," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 433-452, December.
  19. Steven N. Durlauf & Robert E. Hall, 1989. "Bounds on the Variances of Specification Errors in Models with Expectations," NBER Working Papers 2936, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  20. Marjorie Flavin, 1993. "The Excess Smoothness of Consumption: Identification and Interpretation," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 60(3), pages 651-666.
  21. Johansen, Soren, 1991. "Estimation and Hypothesis Testing of Cointegration Vectors in Gaussian Vector Autoregressive Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(6), pages 1551-1580, November.
  22. Flavin, Marjorie A, 1981. "The Adjustment of Consumption to Changing Expectations about Future Income," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(5), pages 974-1009, October.
  23. Engsted, Tom, 1998. "Money Demand During Hyperinflation: Cointegration, Rational Expectations, and the Importance of Money Demand Shocks," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 533-552, July.
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Cited by:

  1. Liping Gao & Hyeongwoo Kim & Yaoqi Zhang, 2013. "Revisiting the Empirical Inconsistency of the Permanent Income Hypothesis: Evidence from Rural China," Auburn Economics Working Paper Series auwp2013-05, Department of Economics, Auburn University.

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