Optimal Consumption of Durable Goods with Costly Adjustment

该研究项目从理论上考虑了这样一种观察，即家庭购买耐用品的频率通常很低，而不是连续的。这种模式的一种解释是交易成本的存在，这使得持续更新耐用品库存的成本太高。本文给出了考虑交易费用的消费者最优消费问题的解析解。这些成本可以采取任何一种形式。它们可能代表线性调整成本或搜索成本，适用于可分割或不可分割的耐用物品。在这个模型中产生的不频繁的购买可能有助于解释耐用品总支出变化的波动性和持久性。互动部分包括：与剑桥/波士顿大学的女教员和研究生共进非正式午餐/进行讨论，随后由一名女学者举行正式学术研讨会；教授宏观经济学高级研究生课程；通过本科生演讲方案提高妇女的学术和研究机会的知名度。

The research project considers theoretically the observation that household purchases of durable goods are typically infrequent, rather than continuous. One explanation for this pattern is the existence of transactions costs that make continuous updating of the durables stock too costly. This work presents an analytical solution to the optimal consumption problem of a consumer facing transactions costs. These costs may take any of a class of forms. They may represent a linear adjustment costs or search costs, applied to either a divisible or an indivisible durable good. The infrequent purchases generated in this model may help to explain the volatility and persistence of changes in aggregate durables expenditure. The interactive component includes: al informal lunch/discussion with women faculty and graduate students from Cambridge/Boston universities, followed by a formal academic seminar by a women scholar; teaching an advanced graduate course in macroeconomics; and promoting visibility of academic and research opportunities for women through an undergraduate speakers program.