Consumer Expenditures and Home Production at Retirement - New Evidence from Germany

Melanie Lührmann ()
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Melanie Lührmann: Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA), Postal: Amalienstr. 33, D-80799 Munich
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Melanie Lührmann

No 7120, MEA discussion paper series from Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy

Abstract: This paper investigates consumer expenditures of German households pre- and post-retirement. The widely observed distinct drop in spending upon retirement entry poses an empirical puzzle since life cycle theory predicts smoothing of the marginal utility of consumption over time. As one explanation, I explore the role of home production as a substitute for consumer expenses. Taking a combined look at consumer expenditures and time use pre and post-retirement, I find a significant drop of about 17% of pre-retirement expenses at retirement which coincides with an increase in time spent on home production of an additional 33% per day.

JEL-codes: D12 D13 D91 J26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-04-02
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Related works:
Journal Article: Consumer Expenditures and Home Production at Retirement – New Evidence from Germany (2010)
Journal Article: Consumer Expenditures and Home Production at Retirement – New Evidence from Germany (2010)
Working Paper: Consumer expenditures and home production at retirement: new evidence from Germany (2007)
Working Paper: Consumer Expenditures and Home Production at Retirement: New Evidence from Germany (2007)
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