IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/2012.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Testing the Response of Consumption to Income Changes with (Noisy) PanelData

Author

Listed:
  • Joseph G. Altonji
  • Aloysius Siow

Abstract

This paper tests the rational expectations lifecycle model of consumption against (1) a simple Keynesian model and (ii) the rational expectations lifecycle model with imperfect capital markets. The tests are based upon the relative responsiveness of consumption to income changes which can be predicted from past information and income changes which cannot be predicted. Since there is strong evidence that panel data contains substantial measurement error, the tests are especially constructed to allow for measurement error in the income process. They also allow for more general income processes than have been considered to date in the literature. The results reject the Keynesian model and generally support the lifecycle model, although the tests are not sufficiently precise to rule out the possibility that some households are liquidity constrained. Measurement error does have a strong influence on the relationship between consumption and income. When it is ignored our tests do not reject the Keynesian model. We show that consideration of measurement error may also reconcile differences in the results of Hall and Mishkin (1982) and Bernanke(1984). Nevertheless, our most important conclusion is that Hall and Mishkin's, Bernanke's, and Hayashi's (198 ) qualitative finding that the vast majority of households obey the lifecycle model is not an artifact of failure to account for measurement error in the income data.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph G. Altonji & Aloysius Siow, 1986. "Testing the Response of Consumption to Income Changes with (Noisy) PanelData," NBER Working Papers 2012, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:2012
    Note: LS
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w2012.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Holbrook, Robert & Stafford, Frank P, 1971. "The Propensity to Consume Separate Types of Income: A Generalized Permanent Income Hypothesis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 39(1), pages 1-21, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adams, Richard H., 2002. "Precautionary saving from different sources of income - evidence from rural Pakistan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2761, The World Bank.
    2. Robert Topel, 1998. "Analytical Needs and Empirical Knowledge in Labor Economics," NBER Chapters, in: Labor Statistics Measurement Issues, pages 51-74, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Robert A. Moffitt, 2020. "Reconciling Trends in U.S. Male Earnings Volatility: Results from a Four Data Set Project," NBER Working Papers 27664, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Whitaker, James B. & Effland, Anne, 2009. "Income Stabilization Through Government Payments: How is Farm Household Consumption Affected?," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 36-48, April.
    5. Cletus C. Coughlin & Thomas A. Garrett, 2009. "Income and Lottery Sales," Public Finance Review, , vol. 37(4), pages 447-469, July.
    6. Altonji, Joseph G. & Martins, Ana Paula & Siow, Aloysius, 2002. "Dynamic factor models of consumption, hours and income," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 3-59, June.
    7. repec:eee:labchp:v:1:y:1986:i:c:p:387-423 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. David Brady & Marco Giesselmann & Ulrich Kohler & Anke Radenacker, 2018. "How to measure and proxy permanent income: evidence from Germany and the U.S," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 16(3), pages 321-345, September.
    9. Bing Chen & Frank P. Stafford, 2016. "Stock Market Participation: Family Responses to Housing Consumption Commitments," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 48(4), pages 635-659, June.
    10. Cletus C. Coughlin & Thomas A. Garrett, 2008. "Income and lottery sales: transfers trump income from work and wealth," Working Papers 2008-004, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    11. Erik Hurst & Ming Ching Luoh & Frank P. Stafford, 1998. "The Wealth Dynamics of American Families, 1984-94," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 29(1), pages 267-338.
    12. repec:eee:labchp:v:1:y:1986:i:c:p:3-102 is not listed on IDEAS

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access
    • C87 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Econometric Software

    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:nbr:nberwo:2012. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 bibliographic 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.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.