I only assigned Section 10.1 of Chapter 10, just to introduc…

I only assigned Section 10.1 of Chapter 10, just to introduce you to the notation for more than 2 time periods. The message of the PIH persists to more than two periods, of course. Consider a person making financial decisions over four periods–and think of each period as a decade. People don’t discount the future (so beta = 1), and fortunately for us the real interest rate (r) is always zero.  Utility from consumption each period is square root.  For each period (decade), total income is as follows: Yt = 0 Yt+1 = 100 Yt+2 = 300 Yt+1 = 200 For this person, what is optimal consumption each period?

A consumer can borrow or lend freely at the market interest…

A consumer can borrow or lend freely at the market interest rate of r=100% per period.   Her utility function is: U = ln(ct) + (1/2)ln(ct+1) She earns Yt=100 and Yt+1=100. But in period t+1 she will have to pay a tax of Tt+1=40.  If she’s maximizing her utility function subject to the IBC, how much will she consume in period t?