流动性约束和不确定性状态下的预防性储蓄研究-中国城乡居民的消费特征分析

该文利用我国城乡时间序列数据,对城乡居民的消费特征做了新的探索.我们对引入预期收入增长的对数线性欧拉方程和二阶泰勒近似的欧拉方程进行了估计,结果说明,当期收入仍是决定我国居民消费的主要因素,消费的随机游走假说不成立;城镇居民比农村居民有更强的预防性储蓄动机.1990年代中期以来持续走低的收入增长率直接抑制了消费需求的增长,而仍然偏紧的流动性约束和日益增强的不确定性增大了预防性储蓄动机.     

流动性约束和不确定性状态下的预防性储蓄研究——中国城乡居民的消费特征分析

本文利用我国城乡时间序列数据，对城乡居民的消费特征做了新的探索。我们对引入预期收入增长的对数线性欧拉方程和二阶泰勒近似的欧拉方程进行了估计，结果说明，当期收入仍是决定我国居民消费的主要因素，消费的“随机游走”假说不成立；城镇居民比农村居民有更强的预防性储蓄动机。1990年代中期以来持续走低的收入增长率直接抑制了消费需求的增长。而仍然偏紧的流动性约束和日益增强的不确定性增大了预防性储蓄动机。     

财富积累、习惯、偏好改变、不确定性与家庭消费决策

在本文中,我们建立了一个相当一般的分析家庭消费与储蓄跨期优化决策问题的理论框架。使用综合了家庭的当期消费、消费习惯、财富积累、偏好改变多种作用影响的效用函数,在家庭劳动收入具有不确定性的情况下,我们导出了家庭消费与储蓄跨期优化决策问题的闭式解,给出了家庭消费函数和欧拉方程的解析式。使用中国农村居民的住户调查数据对理论模型中导出的欧拉方程进行估计的结果表明,除了收入和家庭财富以外,消费习惯和预防性储蓄动机确实也都是影响我国农村居民家庭的消费与储蓄决策的重要因素。     

财富积累、习惯、偏好改变、不确定性与家庭消费决策

在本文中,我们建立了一个相当一般的分析家庭消费与储蓄跨期优化决策问题的理论框架。使用综合了家庭的当期消费、消费习惯、财富积累、偏好改变多种作用影响的效用函数,在家庭劳动收入具有不确定性的情况下,我们导出了家庭消费与储蓄跨期优化决策问题的闭式解,给出了家庭消费函数和欧拉方程的解析式。使用中国农村居民的住户调查数据对理论模型中导出的欧拉方程进行估计的结果表明,除了收入和家庭财富以外,消费习惯和预防性储蓄动机确实也都是影响我国农村居民家庭的消费与储蓄决策的重要因素。     

经济转型期中国农村居民预防性储蓄研究 --1978～2003年实证研究

文章利用1978～2003年样本数据通过消费函数的变参数空间状态模型研究了经济转型期中国农村居民超敏感度消费行为,实证研究结果表明,农户存在着显著的"预防性储蓄"动机.在此基础上,文章利用附加"预防性储蓄"动机的消费模型和ARCH结构对预防性动机强度进行了估计,检验结果发现未来预期收入中存在显著的不确定性,这表明在目前农村总需求不足的情形下,降低"预防性储蓄"动机和流动性约束将是扩张社会消费需求的重要政策.     

中国城乡居民预防性动机强度的估测

基于Dynan模型本文运用城乡省际面板数据实证估测了我国城乡居民的预防性动机强度.估测结果显示,我国居民存在显著的预防性动机,其值约为14,城镇居民的预防性储蓄动机强度略高于农村居民.因此,构建居民消费增长长效机制的一个重要目标是降低居民的预防性动机强度,以加快形成消费、投资、出口协调驱动经济增长的新局面.     

中国城市居民预防性储蓄及预防性动机强度:1999-2003

中国居民储蓄的超常增长近年来成为一个被普遍关注的问题 ,而居民储蓄动机更是成为人们关注的焦点。一个普遍的看法是 ,预防性储蓄动机在中国居民储蓄决策中起重要作用。本文从标准的消费者预期效用最大化模型出发 ,推导出收入不确定性条件下消费函数的显式解和衡量预防性动机强度的公式 ;然后用我国 3 5个大中城市1 999— 2 0 0 3年的数据进行计量分析 ,结果发现 3 5个大中城市的居民储蓄行为中的确存在预防性动机 ,但预防性动机并非如人们预期的那么强。在对该结果的可能原因进行分析后 ,本文给出了若干政策建议。     

经济转轨与城镇化进程中的居民消费行为特征——对1396户城镇家庭的实证分析

基于中国9个省1396户城镇家庭的面板数据,运用系统广义矩估计法对一个包括习惯形成和不确定性的欧拉方程进行估计以考察家庭消费是否跨时演进,研究结果表明,偏好的设定偏误是传统的生命周期——持久收入模型不能很好地诠释中国城镇家庭消费决策的一个原因,在解释消费决策的影响因素时假定偏好的跨时可分性会得出错误的结论,城镇居民消费偏好的跨时不可分性以及由收入和支出不确定性引发的预防性储蓄动机是导致居民消费倾向持续偏低的重要原因。     

中国城镇居民储蓄的影响因素研究:基于三类储蓄动机的实证分析

本文用中国城镇居民1980-2007年的数据,检验了影响居民储蓄行为的三类动机,即生命周期动机、遗赠动机和预防性动机。结果发现这三类储蓄动机都对中国城镇居民的储蓄行为产生影响,其中生命周期储蓄动机是解释中国居民高储蓄率的重要原因,但收入分配差距扩大导致整个社会的遗赠储蓄增加,引起总消费不振。此外,由于居民面临的不确定性增加,中国城镇居民的预防性储蓄动机也随之提高。     

保险对启动消费的导向作用

一、保险和储蓄的不同作用近年来,我国城乡居民储蓄存款再现强劲增长势头,而全国社会消费品零售总额的增长却远远滞后于储蓄存款的增长。储蓄存款的强劲增长,反映出城乡居民即期消费欲望的不足,说明启动消费尚存在着某些障碍。对居民储蓄行为的研究,往往要分析其储蓄的动机因素。许多学者认为,我国城乡居民存在较强的预防性储蓄动机。持续高增长的储蓄存款,对利率变化不敏感,更多的是追求储蓄的安全性和流动性,是对未来教育支出、养老支出、购房支出以及医疗保健支出的预防性储备。保险和储蓄都是人们应付未来不确定风险的资金积存的方式,目…     

INCOME,CONSUMPTION AND SAVING IN URBAN AND RURAL INDIA*

The main purpose of the study is to determine the savings potential of urban and rural households in India and in the process determine the possible savings and consumption functions separately for urban and rural areas. Four different possible functions have been used for determining the savings behaviour of the households both at the aggregate level and at the per capita level. The rural households, according to the results, have an extremely low rate of saving with income elasticity of saving of less than unity. For the urban households on the other hand, the income elasticity of saving is high enough to suggest the possibilities of considerably high savings potential. To understand the consumption behaviour of these households, the long-run and the short-run marginal propensities to consume and the marginal propensities to consume out of‘permanent’ or ‘normal’ income and ‘transitory’ income have been worked out. For the urban sector none of these give encouraging enough results and the analysis has been extended to examine whether other factors like prices and household assets are of any significance. Whereas for the rural sector, Milton Friedman's theory of ‘permanent’ or ‘normal’ income is somewhat substantiated, other factors like ‘transitory’ income, prices and assets appear to inthence urban consumption behaviour though no single one of them substantially enough. A negligible effect of ‘permanent’ income on urban consumption behaviour is, on the other hand, very clearly suggested by the results. Household consumption and savings have next been projected using the above results to determine the possible levels for the next three years. The results suggest that the rate of domestic savings likely to be achieved by the end of the Third Five Year Plan (1965–66) falls short of the targets laid down.     

The interest elasticity of household savings: a structural approach with German micro data

This paper empirically investigates the effects of changes in the interest rate as well as in the current and expected future consumer price levels on households’ consumption–savings decision. In a structural demand model applied to German consumption data, we use cross-sectional and longitudinal variation in prices and tax rates to construct individual after-tax interest rates and cluster-specific consumer prices. We find that the compensated own-price elasticities for savings as well as consumption are significantly negative, while the theoretical model implications of homogeneity and symmetry must be rejected. Importantly, we estimate the uncompensated interest rate elasticity of savings, in line with the literature, at around zero. Some heterogeneity in this elasticity is found along the savings and wealth distribution. We conclude that short-term policy-induced variation of net returns to savings is expected to have no significant effects on the level of compound savings.     

Is there a retirement consumption puzzle in Japan? Evidence from a household panel dataset spanning several years

Using a unique long-run panel of Japanese households, this paper examines the changes in consumption at retirement (‘the retirement-consumption puzzle’). Our analysis shows that households’ expenditure does decline after the retirement of the household head and that changes in household composition at retirement cannot fully account for this decline. Changes in life-style/preferences after retirement also do not appear to explain a salient feature of the expenditure decline, namely, the strong correlation between the magnitudes of the expenditure decline and the income decline upon retirement. On the other hand, our finding that the expenditure decline is larger for households with smaller savings and/or that experienced a large unexpected income decline is broadly consistent with the standard LC/PIH augmented with unexpected shocks, while it does not rule out the possibility that there is a relatively small subset of households that are myopic and lack sufficient saving discipline.     

DETERMINANTS OF SCHOOL ENROLLMENT AND PERFORMANCE IN BULGARIA: THE ROLE OF INCOME AMONG THE POOR AND RICH

Where credit markers are incomplete, households must finance educational investments out of past savings or current earnings. Poor households, with low savings and low current income, may accordingly be highly constrained in their educational choices, whereas richer households are not. The commonly used log-expenditures specification of the relationship of income to school enrollment may therefore be imprecise. Using data from the 1995 Bulgarian Integrated Household Survey, this analysis shows that the roughly 50% of Bulgarian households with expenditures per adult-equivalent of less than 5,000 Leva (1995 prices) are financially constrained in their educational choices, while richer households are not.     

CHINESE REGIONAL INEQUALITIES IN INCOME AND WELL-BEING

Dividing China into seven regions reveals rural income and consumption divergence for both 1980–2005 and 2000–05. But while real rural consumption growth averaged 7.7 percent over 1985–2005 in the eastern coastal region, it averaged 6.5 percent uniformly in the interior. In evaluating well-being, such rapid improvement in all regions arguably overshadows negative connotations of divergence. Twenty years of household survey data reveal dramatic increases in rural household savings, as rural consumption improved more slowly than income in some periods. This raises questions about the suitability of consumption as a basis for measuring well-being and its distribution. Increased savings appear to be transient, as some households save while others dissave to purchase durables and afford lumpy services like education and healthcare—supplies of which became more plentiful in the 1990s. The paper argues that more meaningful measures of regional disparities come from differences in regional poverty headcounts. It also suggests that higher regional inequality and accompanying interregional migration indicate that inequality plays an important positive role in inducing economic actors voluntarily to move to more productive locations and activities as a mechanism for ensuring sustainable improvements in individual well-being.     

Consumption,habit formation,and savings: Evidence from a rural household panel survey

Protecting consumption from the effects of uninsured risk is vital for rural farming households, who tend to be poor and live close to subsistence level. Income uncertainty and habit formation play important roles in the consumption and savings. Variability in weather conditions has a strong linkage with variability in agricultural income in developing countries. This study analyzes consumption and saving decisions of rural farm households in India. Using household panel data for 4 years, we estimated consumption equation accounting for habit formation under income uncertainty. Our findings suggest an evidence for habit formation among rural households. Additionally, we found that both annual and seasonal weather risks significantly influence savings among rural households. Findings from this study also suggest a robust and vibrant farm economy and that the nonfarm economy could contribute to the economic well‐being of rural farming households.     

HOW CERTAIN ARE DUTCH HOUSEHOLDS ABOUT FUTURE INCOME? AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

The precautionary saving literature shows that income uncertainty increases savings and wealth. To estimate the magnitude of this effect, we need a measure of income uncertainty. This paper empirically analyzes subjective income uncertainty in The Netherlands. Data come from a large Dutch household survey. We measure income uncertainty by asking questions on expected household income in the next twelve months. First, we describe the data and investigate the relationship between the measure of income uncertainty and a number of household characteristics. Controlling for information on expected income changes, we find strong relationships between labor-market characteristics and the subjective income uncertainty as reported by the heads of the households. Second, we compare income uncertainty in The Netherlands with income uncertainty in the U.S. and Italy. It becomes evident that perceived income uncertainty is smaller in The Netherlands than it is in the U.S.     

中国农户的收入风险应对机制与消费波动:来自陕西的经验证据

在正规风险应对机制缺失的背景下,中国农户很大程度上依靠社会网络内的风险统筹和跨时期消费平滑等自发机制来应对收入风险,缓解消费波动。本文运用logistic回归方法,对来自陕西1 151户农户的问卷调查数据进行了计量分析,检验了两类风险应对机制对消费波动的影响。经验分析结果表明:在农户缓解收入风险所带来的消费波动的过程中,社会网络内的风险统筹仍然发挥着较大的作用;跨时期消费平滑机制也发挥着重要作用,但从内部结构来看,通过储蓄实现的自我保险的作用最为重要,信贷市场借款的作用较为有限。     

Are Consumption Taxes Regressive?

It is often argued that a general consumption tax is necessarily regressive, particularly because households with high incomes typically save relatively more than those with low incomes. This paper uses very simple tax models to examine the combination of income and consumption taxes. It suggests that it is preferable to consider the overall impact of all taxes and transfers rather than relating payments of a single tax to gross income, instead of the relevant tax base. Insofar as savings might be relevant, attention should be given to the income tax treatment of investment income.     

An empirical analysis of household savings in France 1984–1998

In this paper we analyse the saving behaviour of French households by cohort and by age. We exploit two data sets: the Household Budget Surveys (HBS) allow us to define saving as residual of income minus consumption, while the Financial Assets Surveys (FAS) give us saving as changes in wealth. We make use of both financial assets surveys, gross them up using national accounts, and distinguish between “active” and “passive” saving.In France, tax policies appear to be one of the main factors that explain the recent evolution of household saving rates. The complex tax treatment of savings and capital income as well as the way in which households perceive the future of the French retirement pension system (5) also help to explain the composition of active and passive saving.