Comparative Analysis of Consumption Behavior in East Asia : Qualitative Study with Household Micro Data

莫夫舒克研究了消费行为的生命周期假说，特别是年龄如何影响家庭储蓄。他提出了一种新的非参数方法来确定年龄对储蓄的影响，并将这种方法应用于日本、美国、英国、意大利、台湾和泰国的微观数据。与识别年龄效应的传统方法的结果相比，新方法产生的估计更符合生命周期理论。堀冈利用日本的微观数据对消费和储蓄行为进行了研究，得到了三个主要结果。第一，老年退休人群的储蓄行为表现为负储蓄。第二，日本的储蓄率不再像过去那么高；此外，家庭债务正在迅速增长。第三，在20世纪90年代的长期经济衰退中，私人消费的停滞大大恶化了商业状况，使日本经济政策的执行变得复杂。Sawada使用韩国家庭的面板数据，研究了货币危机如何影响家庭消费。研究发现，家庭通过减少私人转账和奢侈品消费来应对日益增加的风险。Sawada还分析了菲律宾在20世纪90年代贫困率下降的原因，并发现这不能用土地资产的差异来解释，而是用人力资本和非农业收入的差异来解释。野村利用日本微观数据验证了流动性约束，发现家庭贷款受到各种生活事件（如结婚、生育、子女教育）的影响，因此将这些事件纳入标准生命周期理论非常重要。Yamashita的研究重点是亚洲金融危机后东亚经济体的收入差距和贫困问题，以及社会保障政策对减少金融危机负面影响的影响。

Movshuk studied the life-cycle hypothesis of consumption behavior, particularly how age affects household savings. He suggested a new non-parametric approach to identify the age effect on savings, and applied the approach to micro data in Japan, the United States, England, Italy and Taiwan, and Thailand. Compared with results from traditional approaches to identify the age effect, the new approach produced estimates that were in more agreement with the life-cycle theory.Horioka researched consumption and saving behavior by using the micro data for Japan, and obtained three major results. First, the saving behavior showed negative savings for individuals who were in the old age and retired. Second, the Japanese saving rate is no longer as high as it was in the past ; besides, the household debt is growing rapidly. Third, during the prolonged recession in the 1990s, the stagnant private consumption greatly worsened the business conditions, and complicated the implementation of economic policies in Japan.Sawada used panel data for Korean households, and studied how monetary crises affected household consumption. The study found that households coped with increased risk by reducing private transfers and the consumption of luxury goods. Sawada also analyzed why poverty declined in the Philippines during the 1990s, and found that this can be explained not by differences in land assets, but by the variation in the human capital and in non-agricultural income.Nomura verified the liquidity constraint by using Japanese micro data, and found that household loans are affected by various life events (such as marriage, childbirth, children's education), making it important to include such events in the standard life-cycle theory.Yamashita's research focused on income disparities and poverty in East Asian economies after the Asian financial crises, and on effects from social security policies to reduce the negative consequences of the financial crisis.