Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
Several recent papers have tested the permanent income-cum-rational expectations hypothesis using data on nondurable or semidurable consumption. We show how this approach can be extended to the case of durables. An application to panel data on automobile expenditures reveals no evidence against the permanent income hypothesis. This result is unchanged in subsamples segregated by family holdings of liquid assets.