The Precautionary Saving Motive and Wealth Accumulation

We quantify the relative importance of the precautionary saving motive in determining wealth accumulation. Puzzling results have appeared on the relative importance of the precautionary motive when this is derived either using a self reported measure of uncertainty about future income rather than observed life-cycle income variation. In this study we show that if one takes into account explicitly the uncertainty of the second income earner results converge using both methods. Precautionary savings account for about 30% of wealth accumulation. However we also claim that obtaining converging results does not necessarily answer the question on the empirical relevance of precautionary savings, as the amounts being saved largely differ among studies due to the country specific incentives to save and to the measure of wealth accumulation.

Saving and Habit Formation: Evidence from Dutch Panel Data

This paper focuses on the role of habit formation in individual preferences over consumption and saving.We closely relate to Alessie and Lusardi's (1997) model as we estimate a model which is based on their closed-form solution, where saving is expressed as a function of lagged saving and other regressors. Alternatively, we could use an Euler-equation approach (see e.g.Guariglia and Rossi (2001) and Dynan (2000)), but we will argue that this approach may yield spuriously negative estimates of the habit formation parameter because in surveys consumption is typically measured with considerable error.A second reason to use the closed form solution as a basis of the empirical model is that it embodies more information about the habit formation model than the Euler equation.Therefore, the closed form solution allows for a more powerful test of the validity of the habit formation model than the Euler equation approach.preferences;savings;incomes;habit formation

WP 18 - Permanent and transitory wage inequality of British men, 1975-2001: Year, age and cohort effects

We examine the variance-covariance structure of log-wages over time and over the lifecycle of British men from 1975 to 2001, hereby controlling for cohort effects. Wage inequality has risen sharply during the 1980’s and early 1990’s and remained fairly constant in the second half of the 1990’s. We show that this increase is caused mainly by a strong increase in transitory wage inequality and only to a lesser extent to an increase in permanent wage inequality. The transitory component of log-wages is, however, highly persistent over time: serial correlation decreases from 0.88 over a one-year period to 0.65 over a ten-year period. The constant wage inequality in the second half of the 1990’s is attributed to a slight decrease in permanent wages inequality, a stabilization of the variance of the transitory wage shock, and the strong decrease in transitory wage inequality for the cohorts entering employment since the end of the 1980’s. Ignoring age effects in transitory wage inequality and cohort effects, as is commonly done, leads to severely distorted inferences concerning the changes in permanent wage inequality.Panel Data, Wage Distribution, Inequality, Mobility. JEL codes: C23, D31, J31, J60

Premium Differentiation in the Unemployment Insurance System and the Demand for Labor

In this study we investigate the effect of the introduction of premium differentiation (experience rating) in the Dutch Unemployment Insurance system on the demand for labor. We formulate a model of labor demand, based on the model by Bentolila and Bertola (1990), in which we distinguish two types of workers: the "young" and the "old". This distinction is made, as one of the major motives for opening the discussion around premium differentiation in the Netherlands is the wish to reduce the inflow of older workers into unemployment. In the model, labor adjustment costs (hiring and firing costs) are linear. The model allows for uncertainty in the business cycle. Premium differentiation is incorporated in the model as a rise in firing costs, accompanied by a decrease in unemployment insurance premium payments. Values for the model parameters are determined to quantify the effect of premium differentiation on the demand for labor in various sectors of the Dutch economy. We compute the effect of premium differentiation on the steady state level of labor demand. We also compute the effect of premium differentiation on the level of profits.Unemployment Insurance;premium differentiation;labor demand

Did you really save so little for your retirement? An analysis of retirement savings and unconventional retirement accounts

We use a confirmatory factor analysis to study the relation between the importance of a broad spectrum of saving motives, such as saving for retirement, and saving behavior. Survey data show that many respondents save for retirement in unconventional retirement accounts, such as investments in real estate. We show that finding the retirement motive important does not directly translate in additional retirement savings. We show that the annuity stream generated by conventional and unconventional accounts from age 65 onwards is small and that most savings are residual and are not being put aside for a specific motive. Also self-employed retirement savings are low, even though this group has generally no occupational pension.

Consumption, savings and demography

Economics

The problem of not observing small expenditures in a consumer expenditure survey

Economics

Estimating a collective household model with survey data on financial satisfaction

We estimate a collective household model with survey data on financial satisfaction from the European Community Household Panel. Our estimates suggest that cohabitating individuals enjoy returns to scale in consumption that are towards the larger end of the range of estimates reported in the literature. They also suggest that the share of household income provided by the female partner is a significant determinant of her share of household consumption in most countries of the countries we study.Consumption, returns to scale, collective household models