Understanding Consumption in Retirement: Recent Developments

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Penn collection
Wharton Pension Research Council Working Papers
Degree type
Discipline
Subject
consumption
retirement
spending
Economics
Funder
Grant number
License
Copyright date
Distributor
Related resources
Author
Hurst, Erik
Contributor
Abstract

This chapter summarizes five facts that have emerged from the recent literature on consumption behavior during retirement. Most importantly, there is substantial heterogeneity in spending changes at retirement across consumption categories. The declines in spending during retirement are limited to the categories of food and work related expenses. Even though food spending declines during retirement, actual food intake remains constant. Furthermore, the literature shows that there is substantial heterogeneity across households in the change in expenditure associated with retirement. Much of this heterogeneity, however, can be explained by households involuntarily retiring. Overall, the evidence suggests that the standard model of lifecycle consumption augmented with home production and uncertain health shocks does well in explaining the consumption patterns of most households as they transition into retirement.

Advisor
Date Range for Data Collection (Start Date)
Date Range for Data Collection (End Date)
Digital Object Identifier
Series name and number
Publication date
2007-09-01
Volume number
Issue number
Publisher
Publisher DOI
Journal Issue
Comments
The published version of this Working Paper may be found in the 2008 publication: Recalibrating Retirement Spending and Saving (https://pensionresearchcouncil.wharton.upenn.edu/publications/books/recalibrating-retirement-spending-and-saving/).
Recommended citation
Collection