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IFS Working Papers
January 1997 W97/15
Article
Consumption, inequality and income uncertainty
Type: IFS Working Papers
ISSN: 1742-0415
Now published in: Quarterly Journal of Economics [Details]

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This paper places the debate over using consumption or income in studies of inequality growth in a formal intertemporal setting. It highlights the importance of permanent and transitory income uncertainty in the evaluation of growth in consumption inequality. We derive conditions under which the growth of variances and covariances of income and consumption can be used to separately identify the growth in the variance of permanent and transitory income shocks.Household data from the United Kingdom for the period 1968-1992 are used to show a strong growth in transitory inequality towards the end of this period while younger cohorts are shown to face significantly higher levels of permanent inequality.

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