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International evidence on sticky consumption growth

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  • Carroll, Christopher D.
  • Slacalek, Jirka
  • Sommer, Martin

Abstract

We estimate the degree of 'stickiness' in aggregate consumption growth (sometimes interpreted as reflecting consumption habits) for thirteen advanced economies. We find that, after controlling for measurement error, consumption growth has a high degree of autocorrelation, with a stickiness parameter of about 0.7 on average across countries. The sticky-consumption-growth model outperforms the random walk model of Hall (1978), and typically fits the data better than the popular Campbell and Mankiw (1989) model. In several countries, the sticky-consumption-growth and Campbell-Mankiw models work about equally well.

Suggested Citation

  • Carroll, Christopher D. & Slacalek, Jirka & Sommer, Martin, 2008. "International evidence on sticky consumption growth," CFS Working Paper Series 2008/09, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:cfswop:200809
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sticky Expectations; Consumption Dynamics; Habit Formation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics

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