Working Paper

A leisurely reading of the life-cycle consumption data


Abstract: A puzzle in consumption theory is the observation of a hump in age-consumption profiles. We study a general equilibrium life-cycle economy with capital in which households include both consumption and leisure in their period utility function. We calibrate the model and find that a significant hump in life-cycle consumption is a feature of the equilibrium. Thus inclusion of leisure in household preferences may provide part of the explanation of observed life-cycle consumption humps.

https://doi.org/10.20955/wp.2003.017

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Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Part of Series: Working Papers

Publication Date: 2006

Number: 2003-017