The Retirement of a Consumption Puzzle

Erik Hurst

No 13789, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper summarizes five facts that have emerged from the recent literature on consumption behavior during retirement. Collectively, the recent literature has shown that there is no puzzle with respect to the spending patterns of most households as they transition into retirement. In particular, the literature has shown that there is substantial heterogeneity in spending changes at retirement across consumption categories. The declines in spending during retirement for the average household are limited to the categories of food and work related expenses. Spending in nearly all other categories of non-durable expenditure remains constant or increases. Moreover, even though food spending declines during retirement, actual food intake remains constant. The literature also shows that there is substantial heterogeneity across households in the change in expenditure associated with retirement. Much of this heterogeneity, however, can be explained by households involuntarily retiring due to deteriorating health. Overall, the literature shows that the standard model of lifecycle consumption augmented with home production and uncertain health shocks does well in explaining the consumption patterns of most households as they transition into retirement.

JEL-codes: D11 E21 J26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-lab and nep-mac
Note: AG EFG LS PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (80)

Published as “Understanding Consumption in Retirement: Recent Developments”, in Recalibrating Retirement Spending and Saving (eds, John Ameriks and Olivia Mitchell), Oxford University Press, September 2008.

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