
doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2316648
handle: 11245/1.409025 , 11245/1.391648 , 10419/87388
The rise in within-group consumption inequality in response to the increase in within-group income inequality over the last three decades in the U.S. is puzzling to expected-utility-based incomplete market models. The two-sided lack of commitment models exhibit too little consumption inequality while the standard incomplete markets models tend to predict too much consumption inequality. We show that a model with two-sided lack of commitment and chance attitudes, as emphasized by prospect theory, can explain the relationship and can avoid the systematic bias of the expected utility models. The chance attitudes, such as optimism and pessimism, imply that the households attribute a higher weight to high and low outcomes compared to their objective probabilities. For realistic values of risk aversion and of chance attitudes, the incentives for households to share the idiosyncratic risk decrease. The latter effect endogenously amplifies the increase in consumption inequality relative to the expected utility model, thereby improving the fit to the data.
Consumption Inequality, Prospect Theory, 330, Consumption Inequality, Prospect Theory, Limited Enforcement, Risk Sharing, ddc:330, Limited Enforcement, Consumption (Economics) ; Income, Consumption Inequality, Prospect Theory, Limited Enforcement, Risk Sharing., Risk Sharing, D52, D31, E21, jel: jel:D52, jel: jel:E21, jel: jel:D31
Consumption Inequality, Prospect Theory, 330, Consumption Inequality, Prospect Theory, Limited Enforcement, Risk Sharing, ddc:330, Limited Enforcement, Consumption (Economics) ; Income, Consumption Inequality, Prospect Theory, Limited Enforcement, Risk Sharing., Risk Sharing, D52, D31, E21, jel: jel:D52, jel: jel:E21, jel: jel:D31
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 0 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Average | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Average |
