Time to Cook: Expenditure at Retirement in Spain

Abstract

Detailed panel expenditure data from Spain reveal little evidence of a retirement consumption puzzle in 1985–2004. There is a drop in food at home expenditure in the later years of the sample along with evidence of households paying lower prices for the food they purchase after retirement. However, our findings are consistent with a model that allows for home production as long as one accounts for the greater participation in housework by men after retirement coinciding with this latter period. Our work adds to the evidence from several countries and helps in reconciling the retirement consumption puzzle with life-cycle models.