search query: @indexterm Incomes / total: 594
reference: 41 / 594
Author: | Jappelli, T. Pistaferri, L. Padula, M. |
Title: | A direct test of the buffer-stock model of saving |
Journal: | Journal of the European Economic Association
2008 : DEC, VOL. 6:6, p. 1186-1210 |
Index terms: | models savings wealth consumers surveys Italy incomes |
Freeterms: | households |
Language: | eng |
Abstract: | Recent models with liquidity constraints and impatience underline that consumers use savings to buffer income fluctuations. This paper derives from a model an appropriate theoretical restriction, testing it using data on working-age individuals from the 2002 and 2004 Italian Surveys of Household Income and Wealth, including data on the amount of wealth held for precautionary purposes. This data are interpreted herein as target wealth in a buffer stock (here as: b-s.) model. The test results do not support b-s. behaviour, even among population groups more likely, a priori, to display such behaviour. Instead, the saving behaviour of young households is consistent with models in which impatience, relative to prudence, is not as high as in b-s. models. |
SCIMA