
The permanent income hypothesis (PIH
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Full Answer
What is permanent income hypothesis theory of consumption?
The permanent income hypothesis is a theory of consumer spending stating that people will spend money at a level consistent with their expected long-term average income. The level of expected long-term income then becomes thought of as the level of “permanent” income that can be safely spent.
What is permanent income hypothesis equation?
t+1 - c∗ t) = Et∆c ∗ t+1 = 0. It means that the expected future change in consumption, given all the available information at time t, is equal to zero, that is consumption does not change between periods t and t + 1 if there is no additional information arriving between periods t and t + 1 about consumer's incomes.
What is permanent income example?
For example, an individual who expects a bonus at the end of a particular year may either advance their spending or may plough the additional income into savings. Thus, an individual may increase their expenditure on consumer goods and services or may invest the additional funds into long term growth options.
What is the impact of permanent income hypothesis on consumption behavior?
Milton Friedman came up with the permanent income hypothesis in 1957. Consumption spending will be based on consumer expectations about their earnings over a long period. As such, spending habits will change based upon their individual expectations.
What is the difference between life cycle and permanent income hypothesis?
In the case of the life-cycle hypothesis, current consumption would remain a function of total lifetime resources, although the relationship would no longer be one of strict proportionality. In the permanent income hypothesis, cP remains a function of Wand hence, of permanent income rather than current income.
What is absolute relative and permanent income hypothesis?
Like Duesenberry's RIH, Friedman's hypothesis holds that the basic relationship between consumption and income is proportional. But consumption, according to Friedman, depends neither on 'absolute' income, nor on 'relative' income but on 'permanent' income, based on expected future income.
What are the components of permanent income?
In its simplest form, the hypothesis states changes in permanent income (human capital, property, assets), rather than changes in temporary income (unexpected income), are what drive changes in consumption.
How is permanent income measured?
An alternate, and more conventional, approach to the measurement of permanent income is in terms of a weighted average of past incomes, that is, Yp =XWtYt, t =-x. where Wt are the weights and Yt the measured income in time period t.
What is the permanent income hypothesis chegg?
Permanent Income Definition The permanent income hypothesis states that the changes in consumer consumption patterns are influenced not just by the consumer's current income but their expected future income.
What is the theory of consumption explain?
Consumer theory is the study of how people decide to spend their money based on their individual preferences and budget constraints. A branch of microeconomics, consumer theory shows how individuals make choices subject to how much income they have available to spend and the prices of goods and services.
What are the three theories of consumption?
It also describes the main mainstream theories of consumption, which are the life cycle income hypothesis, the permanent income hypothesis and the random walk theory of consumption. Finally, the chapter explores the heterodox approaches to consumption, focusing mainly on the relative income hypothesis.
What are the 4 theories of consumption?
This article provides a complete guide to general theories of consumption function.The Absolute Income Hypothesis: ... Relative Income Hypothesis: ... The Permanent Income Hypothesis: ... Life Cycle Hypothesis:
How is permanent income measured?
An alternate, and more conventional, approach to the measurement of permanent income is in terms of a weighted average of past incomes, that is, Yp =XWtYt, t =-x. where Wt are the weights and Yt the measured income in time period t.
What is the permanent income hypothesis chegg?
Permanent Income Definition The permanent income hypothesis states that the changes in consumer consumption patterns are influenced not just by the consumer's current income but their expected future income.
What are the components of permanent income?
In its simplest form, the hypothesis states changes in permanent income (human capital, property, assets), rather than changes in temporary income (unexpected income), are what drive changes in consumption.
What is permanent income and transitory income?
Permanent income can be thought of as the average flow of income one expects to receive---in good years income will be above its permanent level and in bad years it will be below its permanent level. This difference between permanent and current income is referred to as transitory income.
Why Does the Permanent Income Hypothesis Matter to the Economy?
The Permanent Income Hypothesis has significant implications for government entitlement programs. It is especially relevant for those who will continue working for quite a while, say a decade or more.
Who wrote the permanent income hypothesis?
Milton Friedman 's Permanent Income Hypothesis. Economics. Written by: CameronDaniels. Milton Friedman is the most influential economist of the last fifty years. He is, with John Maynard Keynes, perhaps even the most influential of the entire 20th century . His theories and research continue to shape public policy debates even until today.
What is Friedman's theory of consumption?
One of Friedman’s most influential and revolutionary theories was his challenge to the traditional Keynesian consumption function, which includes simple after-tax income as a variable in the consumption. Friedman countered, that those who consume today take future taxes, price increases, salary increases, and other factors into account.
What did Friedman say about the future?
Friedman countered, that those who consume today take future taxes, price increases, salary increases, and other factors into account. This is summarized in his Permanent Income Hypothesis.
Does the government increase short term spending?
This means that the government's new spending will not in spur you to increase your short term spending – in fact, you might increase your savings rate in anticipation of higher taxes. This effect might go a long way – or the full way – towards cancelling out the effects of some government policies or lending programs.
What is the permanent income hypothesis?
The permanent income hypothesis ( PIH) is a model in the field of economics to explain the formation of consumption patterns. It suggests consumption patterns are formed from future expectations and consumption smoothing. The theory was developed by Milton Friedman and published in his A Theory of Consumption Function, published in 1957 and subsequently challenged by Robert Hall's inclusion of rational expectations. Originally applied to consumption and income, the process of future expectations is thought to influence other phenomena. In its simplest form, the hypothesis states changes in permanent income ( human capital, property, assets ), rather than changes in temporary income (unexpected income), are what drive changes in consumption.
Who created the absolute income hypothesis?
The introduction of the absolute income hypothesis is often attributed to John Maynard Keynes, a British economist, who wrote several books which are now the basis for Keynesian economics. The hypothesis put forward by Keynes was accepted and placed into the post–war synthesis. However, inconsistencies were not resolved swiftly, and economists were unable to explain the consistency of the savings rate in the face of rising real incomes (Fig. 1).
What is Friedman's theory of complete certainty?
Under such circumstances, for Friedman, two motives exist for a consumer unit to spend more or less on consumption than its income: The first is to smooth its consumption expenditures through appropriate timing of borrowing and lending; and the second is either to realize interest earnings on deposits if the relevant rate of interest is positive, or to benefit from borrowing if the interest rate is negative.
What is Friedman's theory of consumption?
Friedman explain in A Theory of the Consumption Function how consumers interact with money based on not just windfall gains, but through their permanent income because consumers will save when they expect their long term income to rise. He writes:
What does Stafford argue about Friedman's explanation?
Stafford (1974) argues that Friedman's explanation cannot account for market failures such as liquidity constraints. Carroll (1997) and Carroll (2001) dispute this, and adjust the model for limits on borrowing. A comprehensive analysis of 3000 tests of the hypothesis provides another explanation. It argues that rejections of the hypothesis are based on publication bias and that after correction, it is consistent with data.
What is the distribution of consumption across consecutive periods?
According to the PIH, the distribution of consumption across consecutive periods is the result of an optimizing method by which each consumer tries to maximize his utility. At the same time, whatever ratio of income one devotes to consumption in each period, all these consumption expenditures are allocated in the course of an optimization process—that is, consumer units try to optimize not only across periods but within each period.
What was Keynes' hypothesis before the synthesis?
His MPC and MPS spending multipliers developed into the absolute income hypothesis ( 1 ), and were influential to the government responses to the ensuing depression.
What is Friedman's permanent income hypothesis?
(I), a household’s actual income, v, and consumption, c, in a particular period may be separated into permanent and transitory components. In other words,
Why is the permanent income hypothesis hard to test?
From an empirical point of view, this hypothesis is hard to test because of the difficulty of measuring permanent income and permanent consumption. Consequently, debate continues on the merits of this hypothesis (as well as other hypotheses). There is, however, a consensus that the permanent income hypothesis, broadly interpreted, is valid.
What is the marginal propensity to consume from permanent income?
In terms of multiplier analysis, this means that since the marginal propensity to consume from permanent income is high (Friedman estimated it to be 0.88), the multipliers (assuming the change is viewed as permanent) will be relatively large, larger in fact than suggested by the short-run consumption function. Similarly, since the marginal propensity to consume from transitory income is zero, the multipliers (assuming the change is viewed as temporary) will be small or even zero.
How did the 1968 income tax surcharge affect consumption?
They believe that the surcharge, in effect for most of the 1968-70 period, reduced consumption. The reduction, however, was appreciably less than would have occurred in the case of a permanent tax increase or equivalent size. As a result, the surcharge was relatively effective in curbing inflation.
What is the current consumption hypothesis?
Under the permanent income hypothesis, current consumption depends on current income and anticipated future income. This view is intuitively plausible. For example, if a household receives current income which is appreciably less than it anticipates in the future, the household is likely to consume more than is suggested by the level of its current income.
What is the relationship between consumption and income?
Based on the three propositions, a household is assumed to plan its consumption on the basis of its permanent income with permanent consumption equal to a constant proportion, n , of its permanent income. Consequently, under the permanent income hypothesis, the basic relationship between consumption and income is denoted by the long-run consumption function.
What is the short run consumption function?
In simplest terms, the short-run consumption function, a relationship between actual consumption and actual income, exists because of deviations between actual and permanent income . Since permanent income is a long-run concept, actual income varies to a greater degree than permanent income. In as much as consumption is based on permanent income, consumption varies to a smaller degree than actual income. These smaller variations in consumption produce the relatively flat consumption function that is observed in the short run.
What is the saving function of the relative income hypothesis?
The saving function is expressed as S t =f (Y t / Y p ), where Y t / Y p is the ratio of current income to some previous peak income. This is called relative income. Thus current consumption or saving is not a function-of current income but relative income.
What are the four types of consumption hypotheses?
The following points highlight the top four types of Hypothesis in Consumption. The types of Hypothesis are: 1. The Post-Keynesian Developments 2. The Relative Income Hypothesis 3. The Life-Cycle Hypothesis 4. The Permanent Income Hypothesis.
When was the Keynesian consumption function confirmed?
Data collected and examined in the post-Second World War period (1945-) confirmed the Keynesian consumption function.
What is the life cycle hypothesis?
The life cycle hypothesis (henceforth LCH) represents an attempt to deal with the way in which consumers dispose off their income over time. In this hypothesis wealth is assigned a crucial role in consumption decision. Wealth includes not only property (houses, stocks, bonds, savings accounts, etc.) but also the value of future earnings.
Why does income vary?
The main reason that an individual’s income varies is retirement. Since most people do not want their current living standard (as measured by consumption) to fall after retirement they save a portion of their income every year (over their entire service period). This motive for saving has an important implication for an individual’s consumption behaviour.
Why do people use a portion of their income?
People use a portion of their income either to restore the old saving rate or to repay their old debt. Thus we see that there is a lack of symmetry in people’s consumption behaviour. People find it more difficult to reduce their consumption level than to raise it.
Who developed the life cycle hypothesis of saving behaviour?
In this context mention has to be made of James Duesenberry (who developed the relative income hypothesis), Ando, Brumberg and Modigliani (who developed the life cycle hypothesis of saving behaviour) and Milton Friedman who developed the permanent income hypothesis of consumption behaviour.

The Permanent Income Hypothesis
- One of Friedman’s most influential and revolutionary theories was his challenge to the traditional Keynesian consumption function, which includes simple after-tax income as a variable in the consumption. Friedman countered, that those who consume today take future taxes, price increases, salary increases, and other factors into account. This is sum...
Smoothing Consumption and Peak Earnings
- Let's look at it another way. A person is going to earn a certain amount of money in his lifetime. In the framework of the Permanent Income Hypothesis, he'll smooth his spending over a career based off of his expectations, as opposed to bouncing wildly around as raises and salary increases come. On the other side of the scale is a near-retiree. Near-retirees are usually at a rel…
Why Does The Permanent Income Hypothesis Matter to The Economy?
- The Permanent Income Hypothesis has significant implications for government entitlement programs. It is especiallyrelevant for those who will continue working for quite a while, say a decade or more. Let's say you're under the age of 45. If the government increases spending today, you might expect them to match it with an equal tax increase at some point in the near future. T…
The Permanent Income Hypothesis Today
- Obviously, we'll continue debating the proper policy response to help spur the economy during difficult times. Expect the Keynes versus Friedmandebate of Monetary versus Fiscal policy to continue for quite some time.
Overview
The permanent income hypothesis (PIH) is a model in the field of economics to explain the formation of consumption patterns. It suggests consumption patterns are formed from future expectations and consumption smoothing. The theory was developed by Milton Friedman and published in his A Theory of Consumption Function, published in 1957 and subsequently formalized by Rob…
Background and history
Until A Theory of Consumption Function, the Keynesian absolute income hypothesis and interpretation of the consumption function were the most advanced and sophisticated. In its post-war synthesis, the Keynesian perspective was responsible for pioneering many innovations in recession management, economic history, and macroeconomics. Like the neoclassical school that preceded it, early inconsistencies had their roots in socio-political events contrary to the predicti…
Origins
The American economist Milton Friedman developed the permanent income hypothesis in his 1957 book A Theory of the Consumption Function. In his book, Friedman posits a theory that explained how and why future expectations change consumption.
Friedman's 1957 book created the basis for consumption smoothing. He argued the consumption model, in which outcomes are stochastic, where consumers face risks and uncertainty to their lab…
Theoretical considerations
In his theory, John Maynard Keynes supported economic policy makers by his argument emphasizing their capability of macroeconomic fine tuning. For Keynes, consumption expenditures are linked to disposable income by a parameter called the marginal propensity to consume (the amount per dollar consumers are willing to spend; ). Since the marginal propensity to consume itself is a function of income, it is also true that additional increases in disposable in…
Simple model
Consider a (potentially infinitely lived) consumer who maximizes his expected lifetime utility from the consumption of a stream of goods between periods and , as determined by one period utility function . In each period , he receives an income , which he can either spend on a consumption good or save in the form of an asset that pays a constant real interest rate in the next period.
The utility of consumption in future periods is discounted at the rate . Finally, let denote the expect…
Empirical evidence
Observations, recorded from 1888 to 1941, of stagnant average propensity to consume in the face of rising real incomes provide strong evidence for the existence of the permanent income hypothesis. An early test of the permanent income hypothesis was reported by Robert Hall in 1978, and, assuming rational expectations, finds consumption follows a martingale sequence. Hall & Mishkin (1982) …
Policy implications
According to Costas Meghir, unresolved inconsistencies explain the failure of transitory Keynesian demand management techniques to achieve its policy targets. In a simple Keynesian framework the marginal propensity to consume (MPC) is assumed constant, and so temporary tax cuts can have a large stimulating effect on demand. Shapiro & Slemrod (2003) find that consumers spread tax rebates over their temporal horizon.
Reception
Some critics of the permanent income hypothesis, such as Frank Stafford, have criticized the permanent income hypothesis for its lack of liquidity constraints. However, some studies have adapted the hypothesis for certain circumstances and found that the permanent income hypothesis is compatible with liquidity constraints and other market failures unaccounted for in the original hypothesis.