Why Is Consumption More Log Normal than Income? Gibrat's Law Revisited

S-Tier
Journal: Journal of Political Economy
Year: 2009
Volume: 117
Issue: 6
Pages: 1140-1154

Score contribution per author:

2.681 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Significant departures from log normality are observed in income data, in violation of Gibrat's law. We show empirically that the distribution of consumption expenditures across households is, within cohorts, closer to log normal than the distribution of income. We explain this empirical result by showing that the logic of Gibrat's law applies not to total income, but to permanent income and to marginal utility. (c) 2009 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:ucp:jpolec:v:117:y:2009:i:6:p:1140-1154
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-24