In this thesis I contribute to the applied study of households' consumption and saving behaviour. In the first chapter I introduce and explain why it is relevant to understand how households react to income shocks in terms of their consumption and saving decisions. The second chapter is inspired by a recent paper by Krueger and Perri (2011), who argue that the observed response of household wealth to income shocks, which is smaller over long periods, provides evidence in favour of the classic permanent-income model with perfect financial markets. Whether a model with financial market imperfections, however, such as the standard incomplete-markets model with liquidity constraints, can also generate such a wealth response crucially depends on the importance of precautionary wealth accumulation. I structurally estimate a model with a precautionary- savings motive and show that it can generate the observed wealth responses in the data. I further show that the wealth responses to income shocks do not allow us to rule out financial market imperfections. In the third chapter I extend the analysis, studying empirically what can be learned from international evidence on the way in which households react to income. I use detailed panel data from newly available surveys of Chile, Spain and the United States. Although it compares three different countries with dissimilar levels of development in their financial markets, the evidence suggests that the amount of precautionary savings in these economies is low and that household behaviour is not strongly influenced by the presence of borrowing constraints. The structural estimation for all countries suggests a low target level of wealth resulting from high levels of impatience or low levels of risk aversion. In the fourth chapter I extend the analysis to the real estate properties owned by the households. I revisit the Italian data, building on Kaplan and Violante (2014) who have argued that a substantial fraction of wealthy households with illiquid wealth, such as real estate, behave as hand-to-mouth consumers. In exploring the data, I find that, in the Italian sample, households which adjust their illiquid wealth show responses to income shocks like permanent-income consumers. Instead households which do not adjust their illiquid wealth, and whose behaviour in general can thus not be characterised by the first order conditions, show responses to income shocks which suggest a stronger precautionary-saving motive, such as wealthy hand-to-mouth consumers might be expected to show. The fifth chapter provides the conclusions of the thesis.

The thesis addresses the research question of how and why ‘prosuming' solar electricity evolves over time among social housing tenants with prepayment electricity meters. Prosuming is defined here as deliberately and simultaneously producing and consuming electricity. Using a Social Practice Theory framework, but also drawing on Time Geography, the thesis analyses prosuming as a ‘project'. This sees practitioners actively mobilising elements (meanings, skills and materials), as well as orchestrating everyday practices (i.e. laundering) and projects (i.e. 'Feeding-the-Meter') to the fulfilment of the 'Prosuming Project'. The overarching research question is ‘How and why does prosuming evolve for social housing tenants?' It is broken down into four subsidiary questions that firstly explore the period before solar panels, and then the three stages of the conceptual framework – adopting, establishing and committing to the Prosuming Project. The first question addresses how householders use electricity prior to the installation of solar panels and the role of two dominant, institutional projects: 'Feeding-the-Meter' and 'Maintaining-Family-Routines'. The second examines the features of households adopting the Prosuming Project and the need to mobilise a set of elements from within a disadvantaged community. The third question explores how the establishing phase is marked by a complex relationship between prosuming as a secondary, voluntary project, and dominant, institutional projects. This is further complicated by the role of synchronicity, finances and the changing seasons. The final subsidiary question addresses how a new vocabulary of elements emerged as practitioners committed to the Prosuming Project. It also explores how a transformative process took place both for practitioner and the project itself. In particular it highlights the potential in the future for an Energy Shifting, Storing, Saving & Sharing Project that could support disadvantaged communities, if they are able to mobilise the elements they need to perform it. This case study adopts an in-depth qualitative methodology, using serial interviews with seven households over ten months. The interviewees live in an area that in 2010 was ranked as within the ten percent most deprived in England, according to English Indices of Deprivation (DCLG). The research explores their lived experiences of the Prosuming Project. The thesis focuses on UK social housing tenants, who appear not to have been researched before for a prosuming-focused, social practice study. This enables the research to contribute to topical debates about future sustainability ‘winners and losers'. It also offers methodological insights into undertaking a social practice case study that explored lived experiences within a disadvantaged community. The research provides insights into how prosuming solar power is embedded in everyday life: how it can be supported or challenged by dominant projects, and how householders may develop new skills, understandings, and ways of using materials as their performances evolve.

The goal of this thesis is to explore how household heterogeneity propagates and amplifies macroeconomic shocks within the economy using both economic theory and empirical data. The assumption of a single "representative" household has been a mainstay of macroeconomic research over the past half-century. However recent work suggests that not only is there a considerable degree of heterogeneity among households, but that these differences have a significant impact on a range of macroeconomic issues such as the e?ectiveness of fiscal stimulus (Kaplan et al., 2014; Broda and Parker, 2014), monetary policy (Auclert, 2017; Kaplan et al., 2016), the housing market (Attanasio et al., 2012; Blundell et al., 2008; Guerrieri and Iacoviello, 2017; Ngai et al., 2016; Mian et al., 2013), consumption (Ahn et al., 2017a; Blundell and Preston, 1998; Campbell and Cocco, 2007; Engelhardt, 1996) and employment (Ravn and Sterk, 2016; McKay and Reis, 2016; Abo-Zaid, 2013a) among many others. This literature has highlighted how households respond differently to aggregate shocks or changes in policy and how simply aggregating or averaging across them can obscure important truths about the economy. However, relaxing this assumption poses several challenges. The first is choosing the degree and manner in which households di?er. While in reality households can differ along many dimensions, in practice it is only feasible to include a small number of these in any given model. Thus one must choose the most salient dimensions along which households differ and the structural reasons behind such differences. For example, when examining the dynamics behind the housing market is it important to model differences in income, wealth, age, tastes or composition? No single model will be able to incorporate all these differences and so it is incumbent on researchers to proritise and justify their choices. In this thesis I will show why household heterogeneity in the housing and labour markets is both empirically relevant and an important consideration when considering the problem of optimal policy. The second challenge is a computational one. While models can be structured such that differentiated households make identical decisions, in general these differences will cause choices, and thus outcomes, across households to diverge. This produces a non-degenerate distribution of households across their specific state variables. This raises the problem of how this potentially infinite-dimension distribution is incorporated within the model. Previous literature has developed a range of options for handling this problem including approximating the distribution with a small handful of moments (Krusell and Smith, 1998) and approximating it with projection and perturbation methods (Reiter, 2009). In this thesis I will outline two different methods for dealing with this computational problem. The first, set out in Chapter 1, shows how market clearing prices can be feasibly calculated by aggregating over the distribution of households. The second approach involves simulating the model with aggregate uncertainty using numerical derivatives based on impulse response functions. The first chapter of this thesis will examine how heterogeneity in wealth and income affects households' decision to purchase housing and the implications for their consumption of non-durable goods. It constructs an Aiyagari-Bewley-Huggett model in which households are subject to an idiosyncratic income shock and thus hold different amounts of liquid wealth and illiquid housing. I then evaluate how the anticipated changes in household debt associated with the leveraged purchase of housing affect the consumption of non-durable goods. I show that the differences in income and wealth lead to significant variance in marginal propensities to consume among households. I show that households that are saving for a house deposit can have negative marginal propensities to consume as they lower their consumption in anticipation of being credit constrained as the probability that they will buy a house increases. This result has important implications for the design of fiscal policy, as it shows that payments to first time home buyers, which was a common policy response to the Global Financial Crisis, can lead to falls in aggregate consumption rather than stimulating growth. The second and third chapters examine how the combination of heterogeneity in workers' wages and downward nominal wage rigidity affects the transmission and design of different aspects of monetary policy. In Chapter 2 I show that in this environment there is a trade-off between a higher rate of inflation which gives workers more flexibility when setting real wages, at the cost of greater price dispersion in the goods market. After outlining a numerical algorithm to solve the model I use micro-data on the distribution of workers' change in wages to calibrate the nominal wage rigidity. I show that downward nominal wage rigidities bend the Phillips curve constraining the inflation rate from falling in times of low demand. This indicates that an inflation rate that is only moderately below its target can mask large falls in the output gap. Finally, I find that the monetary policy rule can be implemented by placing a higher weight on wage inflation, relative to a symmetric nominal wage rigidity. In Chapter 3 I discuss how downwardly rigid wages can amplify or mitigate the welfare loss caused by the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates and how this varies with the parameterisation of the model. I find that the optimal rate of inflation is increased by the presence of both nominal interest rate and wage rigidities, when modeled either separately or in tandem, and is 3 per cent in the baseline calibration of the model.

Para comparar padrões de vida de famílias com diferentes características demográficas são construídos índices relativos denominados escalas de equivalência. Um dos principais componentes dessas medidas são as economias de escala, que levam em consideração o decréscimo do custo per capita quando um membro adicional é incluído em sua composição. Dentre os modelos que procuram medir economias de escala, o modelo de Barten, proposto por Deaton e Paxson (1998), parece ser o mais apropriado do ponto de vista teórico e prediz que a participação dos alimentos no gasto total da família, adotado como indicador de bem-estar, aumenta conforme o tamanho da família aumenta, mantendo constante o gasto total per capita. As evidências empíricas para o Brasil, no entanto, apontam para uma diminuição da participação dos alimentos no gasto total da família conforme o tamanho da família aumenta (confirmando a situação conhecida por Paradoxo de Deaton e Paxson). O modelo de Barten é validado somente quando é alterada a composição dos gastos na construção da participação relativa dos alimentos e considerando, ao invés do gasto total, o gasto com alimentos e um bem mais público. O paradoxo, porém, permanece. Evidências empíricas quanto a economias de escala na preparação de refeições dentro do domicílio ajudam a entender melhor o paradoxo. / In order to compare the standard of living of families with different demographic caracteristics it is necessary to construct an index called equivalence scales. One of the main parts of such index refer to the effect of economies of scale, which reflect the decrease in the per capta cost when an additional member is introduced. Among the models used to measure economies of scale, Deaton and Paxson\'s (1998) Barten Model seems to be the most appropriate from a theoretical point of view. According to this model, the share of food in total expenditure, used as an indicator of welfare, increases as the size of the family goes up but the total expenditure per capta is held fixed. However, empirical evidence for Brazil indicate a decrease in the food share as the family size increases, reinforcing the so called Deaton and Paxson Paradox. The Barten Model seems to be valid only when the food share is taken relative to the total expenditure with food and another good closer to a pure public good. Nonetheless the paradox remains. Finally, the results obtained indicate that the economies of scale in food preparation at home may be important to shed some light on the paradox.

Residential demand-side response (DSR) is a key strategy for meeting the challenges facing the UK electricity system. Leveraging residential flexibility should help to enhance system reliability, reduce carbon emissions, support the integration of renewables into the energy mix and deliver a lower-cost electricity system. However, the viability of residential DSR hinges on two critical factors: consumers will first need to switch to DSR programmes in sufficient numbers and then successfully respond by adjusting their consumption patterns accordingly. This thesis explores how to optimise the impact of residential DSR by examining the enablers and constraints of uptake and response. While participation is primarily encouraged through financial incentives, studies suggest that some consumers may be willing to participate for nonfinancial reasons. As such, this thesis also explores how environmental and pro-social motivations could be leveraged to help promote uptake and response. The thesis contributes to the knowledge on DSR by testing UK consumer preferences for different programme models through a large-scale online survey and identifying measures which could help to maximise uptake. It also explores the potential afforded by dynamic information-only programmes through a trial based on available wind generation. The thesis further makes a theoretical contribution by exploring how the Fogg Behaviour Model (FBM) can be used to conceptualise the enablers and constraints of uptake and response. By mapping these factors to the FBM's core components of ability, motivation and trigger, the model is refined as a tool for understanding how to optimise the impact of residential DSR. The research reveals that information-only DSR programmes may represent a significant untapped resource. Approximately 8% of a representative sample of UK consumers indicated a preference for this model over more conventional price-based programmes; while trial households succeeded in reducing electricity consumption by 9.9% on average when asked to consume less and increasing consumption by 4.4% on average when asked to consume more. These promising findings may help to inform policy and programme design as the UK energy system evolves towards a renewables-based future.

Para comparar padrões de vida de famílias com diferentes características demográficas são construídos índices relativos denominados escalas de equivalência. Um dos principais componentes dessas medidas são as economias de escala, que levam em consideração o decréscimo do custo per capita quando um membro adicional é incluído em sua composição. Dentre os modelos que procuram medir economias de escala, o modelo de Barten, proposto por Deaton e Paxson (1998), parece ser o mais apropriado do ponto de vista teórico e prediz que a participação dos alimentos no gasto total da família, adotado como indicador de bem-estar, aumenta conforme o tamanho da família aumenta, mantendo constante o gasto total per capita. As evidências empíricas para o Brasil, no entanto, apontam para uma diminuição da participação dos alimentos no gasto total da família conforme o tamanho da família aumenta (confirmando a situação conhecida por Paradoxo de Deaton e Paxson). O modelo de Barten é validado somente quando é alterada a composição dos gastos na construção da participação relativa dos alimentos e considerando, ao invés do gasto total, o gasto com alimentos e um bem mais público. O paradoxo, porém, permanece. Evidências empíricas quanto a economias de escala na preparação de refeições dentro do domicílio ajudam a entender melhor o paradoxo. / In order to compare the standard of living of families with different demographic caracteristics it is necessary to construct an index called equivalence scales. One of the main parts of such index refer to the effect of economies of scale, which reflect the decrease in the per capta cost when an additional member is introduced. Among the models used to measure economies of scale, Deaton and Paxson\'s (1998) Barten Model seems to be the most appropriate from a theoretical point of view. According to this model, the share of food in total expenditure, used as an indicator of welfare, increases as the size of the family goes up but the total expenditure per capta is held fixed. However, empirical evidence for Brazil indicate a decrease in the food share as the family size increases, reinforcing the so called Deaton and Paxson Paradox. The Barten Model seems to be valid only when the food share is taken relative to the total expenditure with food and another good closer to a pure public good. Nonetheless the paradox remains. Finally, the results obtained indicate that the economies of scale in food preparation at home may be important to shed some light on the paradox.

One of the key tasks ahead for EU countries is assessment and fight against poverty and social exclusion. Each member of european community has to concern with poverty measurement and prediction of households, which are by poverty endangered. Related to household income decrease under certain level (poverty line) is change of consumer behaviour, which can lead to increase of material inanition. This diploma work is therefore focused on determination of indicators, which either increase the risk of czech household decreasing below poverty line or monitor differences in customer behaviour of relatively "poor" and "rich" households.

In Sweden, the municipalities are responsible for a good living environment, and today most municipalities work actively with climate change mitigation intending to decrease their emissions of greenhouse gases. Municipalities must decrease consumption-related emissions to achieve this. Further, this is a relatively new area that has gained focus within local governance, which asks the question, how are municipalities working to govern resident’s consumption behavior? This thesis investigate how a Swedish municipality works to steer their household consumption to become more sustainable and the experienced challenges. Bulkely & Kern (2006) three different mode of local governance: governing by authority, governing by provision, and governing through enabling will be employed to analyze how local government steer household consumption.  This thesis was carried out as a qualitative, in-depth case study, analyzing the experiences of civil servants operating in a Swedish municipality through semi-structured interviews and analyzing policy documents. Research findings show that measures to steer household consumption were performed mainly by deploying enabling governance by the municipality through information-based measures to promote sustainable consumption. The main obstacles identified are municipalities' lack of agency over household consumption behavior and the inherent complexity of environmental sustainability issues and lack of resources.

The thesis "Who saves or does not save the energy: Uncovering the reasons for practicing energy-saving activities in households" identifies the segments which tend to (not) perform selected household energy saving activities and discover the reasons behind the (non) practicing these activities. The author uses both quantitative and qualitative approach. By quantitative approach, the author analyzes data from pilot project PURGE in order to identify segments which are more likely to do selected activities. Emphasis is placed on class position. The author's own qualitative survey by semi-structured interviews identifies the reasons behind this activities. Generally, the author discovered that the upper classes practice energy- saving activities more often than the lower classes which is consistent with findings that lower classes tend to perform habitual behavior and rely on technology and upper classes tend to calculate and study the effect of these activities. Among lowest educational category are (compared with other educational groups) more people who leave always or often turned on the television or radio, even when no one is watching. Women state more likely than men that they never turn down heating when leaving home for more than four hours, what corresponds to findings that arise from...

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(エネルギー科学) / 甲第19818号 / エネ博第324号 / 新制||エネ||65(附属図書館) / 32854 / 京都大学大学院エネルギー科学研究科エネルギー社会・環境科学専攻 / (主査)教授 東野 達, 教授 宇根﨑 博信, 准教授 MCLELLAN,Benjamin / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Energy Science / Kyoto University / DFAM