Serafin Frache Derregibus

My main area of interest is quantitative macroeconomics. In the first stage of my research I am interested on studying consumption and saving decisions. The Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH) Model has been playing an important role in modern macroeconomics. The validity of the model has been empirically tested several times. Besides, many of the assumptions imposed are subject of strong criticism as they are very restrictive and do not reflect reality.

In particular, the predictions in terms of consumption and financial wealth of the PIH model are corroborated using the Italian Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW). The aim of my research is to analyze different market structures and explore and identify an alternative model with more realistic and plausible assumptions, which helps to get a better understanding of consumption and saving behaviour observed in the empirical ground. The predictions of the PIH and alternative models are assessed using the SHIW. This panel data is unique in its nature as also collects data on household’s wealth. This feature allows the inclusion of wealth shocks to the model in order to evaluate its impact over household decisions from an empirical perspective.