Internal habits formation and optimality

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Mathematical Economics
Year: 2020
Volume: 91
Issue: C
Pages: 165-172

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

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

Abstract

In a very influential model with internal habits, Carroll et al., (2017, 2000), establish that an increase in economic growth may cause a positive change in savings. The optimality of this result, and of many other contributions using a similar framework, has been questioned by some authors who have observed that the parametrization used in these models always implies a utility function not jointly concave in consumption and habits. In this paper, we revisit the optimality issue and, using advanced techniques in Dynamic Programming, we answer the following long-standing open questions: (i) Is the solution found in Carroll et al., (2017, 2000) optimal? (ii) Is it also unique or do other optimal solutions exist?

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:mateco:v:91:y:2020:i:c:p:165-172
Journal Field
Theory
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25