Consumption and prices

This paper considers data quality issues for the analysis of consumption inequality exploiting two complementary datasets from the Consumer Expenditure Survey for the United States.

In this paper we model the changing distribution of household spending in the UK over the period 1978 to 1999 and explore the interpretation of remaining time trends in spending once changes in other observed covariates have been accounted for.

We develop a method for estimation of price reactions using unit value data which exploits the implicit links between quantity and unit value choices.

This paper provides new evidence on the substitutability between private and pension wealth by exploiting the Italian pension reform of 1992.

Forthcoming

This paper tests the published section level price and weight dataused in the compilation of the UK Retail Prices Index for consistencywith the theory of the cost-of-living index.

We develop a method for estimation of price reactions using unit value data which exploits the implicit links between quantity and unit value choices.

Using the Progresa data from Mexico, we investigate intrahousehold decision making using a variety of outcomes.

This paper uses panel data on household consumption and income to evaluate the degree of insurance to income shocks.

Investigating the effects of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) on saving.

The main measure of inflation in the UK is the retail price index (RPI). One way to think of the RPI is as a measure of the changing cost of buying a very large shopping basket containing all of the purchases of a typical UK household. There is, of course, no such thing as a typical household. As a result, inflation varies across the household population, and it would be remarkable if the RPI were a good measure of inflation for every household. This IFS commentary explores the issues surrounding the extent and the implications of differences in inflation rates between households.

This paper presents a revealed preference method for calculating a lower bound on the virtual or reservation price of a new good and suggests a way to improve these bounds by using budget expansion paths.

We use microeconomic data on households to estimate the parameters of the demand for currency derived from a generalized Baumol-Tobin model.

e study the effects of risk and uncertainty on education and child labour in developing countries.

This paper studies the paths from inequality in earnings to inequality in household consumption.

In this paper we model the evolution of income risk and consumption growth.