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The Evolution of Household Income Volatility
Open accessAbstract
Using data from the PSID, we find that household income has become noticeably more volatile during the past thirty years. We estimate that the standard deviation of percent changes in household income rose one-fourth between the early 1970s and early 2000s. This widening in the distribution of percent changes is concentrated in the tails of the distribution, and especially in the lower tail: Changes between the 25th and 75th percentiles are almost the same size now as thirty years ago, but changes at the 10th percentile look substantially more negative. The boost in volatility occurred throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, albeit not at a steady pace. Households' labor earnings and transfer payments have both become more volatile over time.
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“a particularly important finding at a time when household income levels are increasingly volatile (Dynan, Elmendorf, & Sichel, 2007).”
From How your bank balance buys happiness: The importance of “cash on hand” to life satisfaction. (2016) · cites this paper as Dynan, Elmendorf, & Sichel, 2007
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Metadata
- Authors
- Dynan, K. E., Elmendorf, D. W., & Sichel, D. E.
- Affiliations
- Federal Reserve (US)
- Venue
- Finance and Economics Discussion Series
- Published
- 2007-10
- Volume
- 2007.0
- Issue
- 61
- Pages
- 1-47
- ISSN
- 1936-2854 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4300882237
- Cited by
- 77
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2024: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 21.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Finance and Economics Discussion Series (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Income, Poverty, and Inequality
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Labor market dynamics and wage inequality
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Finance › Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis
- Keywords
- income distribution, income inequality, labor income, transfer payments
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