Consumption over the Life Cycle: Facts for France

This paper uses repeated cross-sections of the INSEE Household Budget Survey to estimate life cycle profiles of consumption, controlling for cohort and time effects. We construct age profiles for total and nondurable consumption as well as expenditure patterns for consumer durables. We find significant humps over the life cycle for total, nondurable, and durable expenditures. Changes in household size account for about one half of these humps.