Saving and Growth with Habit Formation

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2000
Volume: 90
Issue: 3
Pages: 341-355

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

Saving and growth are strongly positively correlated across countries. Recent empirical evidence suggests that this correlation holds largely because high growth leads to high saving, not the other way around. This evidence is difficult to reconcile with standard growth models, since forward-looking consumers with standard utility should save less in a fast-growing economy because they know they will be richer in the future than they are today. We show that if utility depends partly on how consumption compares to a "habit stock" determined by past consumption, an otherwise-standard growth model can imply that increases in growth can cause increased saving.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:90:y:2000:i:3:p:341-355
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25