Consumption Inequality and the Frequency of Purchases

We document a decline in the frequency of shopping trips United States since 1980 and consider its implications for measurement consumption inequality. A as households stock up on storable goods (i.e., inventory behavior) will lead to rise expenditure inequality when latter is measured at high frequency, even underlying unchanged. find that most recently documented 1980s can be accounted by this phenomenon. Using detailed micro data spending, which we link club/warehouse store openings, directly attribute much reduced stores. (JEL D12, D31, D63, D91, E21)