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Consumer Expenditures and Home Production at Retirement: New Evidence from Germany

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  • Lührmann, Melanie

    (Sonderforschungsbereich 504)

Abstract

This paper investigates consumer expenditures of German households pre- and post-retirement. The widely observed distinct drop in spending upon retirement entry poses an empirical puzzle since life cycle theory predicts smoothing of the marginal utility of consumption over time. As one explanation, I explore the role of home production as a substitute for consumer expenses. Taking a combined look at consumer expenditures and time use pre and post-retirement, I find a significant drop of about 17% of pre-retirement expenses at retirement which coincides with an increase in time spent on home production of an additional 33% per day.

Suggested Citation

  • Lührmann, Melanie, 2007. "Consumer Expenditures and Home Production at Retirement: New Evidence from Germany," Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications 07-13, Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim;Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim.
    • Handle: RePEc:xrs:sfbmaa:07-13
    Note: Financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, SFB 504, at the University of Mannheim, is gratefully acknowledged.
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    Cited by:

    1. Drescher, Larissa S. & Roosen, Jutta, 2013. "A Cohort Analysis of Food-at-Home and Food-away-from-Home Expenditures in Germany," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 62(01), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Miriam Beblo & Sven Schreiber, 2022. "Leisure and housing consumption after retirement: new evidence on the life-cycle hypothesis," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 305-330, March.
    3. Jia Qi & Swarn Chatterjee & Yingyi Liu, 2022. "Retirement Preparedness of Generation X Compared to Other Cohorts in the United States," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-14, June.
    4. Velarde, Melanie & Herrmann, Roland, 2014. "How retirement changes consumption and household production of food: Lessons from German time-use data," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 3(C), pages 1-10.
    5. Martin Browning & Thomas F. Crossley & Melanie Lührmann, 2016. "Durable Purchases over the Later Life Cycle," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 78(2), pages 145-169, April.
    6. Miriam Beblo & Sven Schreiber, 2010. "The Life-Cycle Hypothesis Revisited: Evidence on Housing Consumption after Retirement," IMK Working Paper 14-2010, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    7. Anton Nivorozhkin & Ludmila Nivorozhkina & Kamila Abazieva, 2013. "Expenditures and Income Adequacy at Retirement," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(3), pages 2017-2023.
    8. Daniel S. Hamermesh & Michał Myck & Monika Oczkowska, 2021. "Widows’ Time, Time Stress and Happiness: Adjusting to Loss," NBER Working Papers 28752, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Drescher, Larissa S. & Roosen, Jutta, 2013. "A Cohort Analysis of Food-at-Home and Food-away-from-Home Expenditures in Germany," Journal of International Agricultural Trade and Development, Journal of International Agricultural Trade and Development, vol. 62(1).
    10. Nivorozhkina, Ludmila & Nivorozhkin, Anton & Abazieva, Kamilla, 2010. "Drop in consumption associated with retirement. The regression discontinuity design approach," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 19(3), pages 112-126.
    11. Zarul Khaliff Kamal* & Siti Mardhiah Isa & Ros Idayuwati Alaudin & Noriszura Ismail, 2018. "Adequacy of Retirement Wealth in Malaysia: Spending Behaviour Analysis," The Journal of Social Sciences Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, pages 429-435:6.
    12. Velarde, Melanie & Herrmann, Roland, 2014. "Time use for consumption and household production of food: is there a retirement-consumption puzzle in Germany?," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 182829, European Association of Agricultural Economists.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

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