Life Cycle Income and Consumption Patterns in Transition

Abstract

There is vast literature examining how households’ income and consumption change over the life cycle. These studies, however, are usually restricted to developed economies. The main objective of this paper is to add to this literature by investigating the life cycle profiles and relative income mobility in a transition economy, facing rapid structural economic and social changes, such as Poland. It is shown that, in contrast to the US, where income inequality over the life cycle follows a roughly linear trend, the age-variance profile of income in Poland is hump-shaped. This finding might indicate that the income process at a micro level in Poland exhibits less persistence than in the US. The estimates of relative income mobility confirm this conjecture.