<p>In the tradition of Afriat (1967), Diewert (1973) and Varian (1982), we provide a revealed preference characterisation of the representative consumer. Our results are simple and complement those of Gorman (1953, 1961), Samuelson (1956) and others. They can also be applied to data very readily and without the need for auxiliary parametric or statistical assumptions. We investigate the application of our characterisation by means of a balanced microdata panel survey. Our findings provide robust evidence against the existence of a representative consumer for our data.</p>
Authors
![Person graphic](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-06/IFS-person-graphic.png?itok=hWCtTSrz)
Ian Crawford
![Laurens Cherchye](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-07/Laurens%20Cherchye.jpg?itok=Xrj5FIn5)
Research Associate Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Laurens is a Research Associate of the IFS and a Professor in the Department of Economics, KU Leuven.
![Bram de Rock](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-07/Bram%20de%20Rock.jpg?itok=5RSG8IvM)
Research Associate Université libre de Bruxelles
Bram is a Research Associate of the IFS, a Professor of Economics at ULB and a Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at KU Leuven.
![Frederic Vermeulen](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-07/Frederic%20Vermeulen.jpg?itok=e-Kq_Km4)
Research Associate University of Leuven
Frederic is a Research Associate of the IFS, a Professor of Economics at the University of Leuven and a Research Fellow at the CEPR.
Working Paper details
- DOI
- 10.1920/wp.cem.2012.0312
- Publisher
- IFS
Suggested citation
Cherchye, L et al. (2012). Aggregation without the aggravation? Nonparametric analysis of the representative consumer. London: IFS. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/aggregation-without-aggravation-nonparametric-analysis-representative-consumer (accessed: 30 June 2024).
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