TY  - BOOK
AU  - Ameriks,John
AU  - Caplin,Andrew
AU  - Leahy,John
ED  - National Bureau of Economic Research.
TI  - The Absent-Minded Consumer
T2  - NBER working paper series
PY  - 2004///
CY  - Cambridge, Mass.
PB  - National Bureau of Economic Research
N1  - January 2004; Hardcopy version available to institutional subscribers
N2  - We present evidence that many households have only a vague notion of what they are spending on various consumption items. We then develop a life-cycle model that captures this  absent-mindedness'. The model generates precautionary spending, whereby absent-minded agents tend to consume more than attentive ones. The model also predicts fluctuations over time in the level of attention, and thereby sheds new light on the sharp reduction in consumption both at retirement, and in cyclical downturns. Finally, we find patterns of attention in the data that are consistent with those predicted by the model
UR  - https://www.nber.org/papers/w10216
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3386/w10216
ER  -