Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/71506 
Year of Publication: 
2005
Series/Report no.: 
IFS Working Papers No. 05/15
Publisher: 
Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), London
Abstract: 
Recent theoretical contributions have suggested consumption externalities, or peergroup effects, as a potential explanation for some of the puzzles in macroeconomics and finance. However, the empirical relevance of peer effects for intertemporal consumption choice is a completely open question. To shed some light on the issue, we derive an extension of the standard life-cycle model that allows for consumption externalities. The analysis is complicated by the challenge of disentangling actual peer effects from merely correlated effects operating through common features or shocks within peer groups. We show how to conduct reliable inference under these circumstances based on within-group equilibrium conditions that give rise to a social multiplier. This approach can be understood as an adaptation of Manski's reflection problem framework to the case of dynamic models with endogenous regressors. We estimate our model using US panel data from the PSID. While there is strong predictable consumption co-movement within peer groups, the evidence for true consumption externalities vanishes once correlated effects are adequately accounted for.
Subjects: 
Consumption
Life-Cycle Model
Peer Effects
Reflection Problem
JEL: 
C23
D12
D91
Z13
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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