Overview
The book develops and applies a modelling framework that enables consumers' expenditure and portfolio behaviour to be analysed in an integrated manner. It extends and applies the Yale approach to financial model building associated with James Tobin. The basis of this approach is surveyed with particular emphasis on the empirical implementation of portfolio models in the UK, US and other countries, appropriate econometric estimation techniques and comparisons with other monetary modelling strategies. Empirical application of the model is particularly addressed to testing whether the composition of wealth holdings is important for expenditure and asset demands, whether concentration on 'money' at the expense of other assets and liabilities is acceptable, and whether the interrelationships stressed by Tobin's general equilibrium approach are statistically important. The results have important implications for the recent literature on wealth effects on consumption and the overemphasis on 'money' at the expense of other financial assets and liabilities.