Researchers – including Krueger and Perri (2006); Aguiar and Bils (2011); and Attanasio, Hurst, and Pistaferri (2012) – have produced mixed findings on this basic question, although, taken together, there is growing evidence that consumption inequality has also risen substantially over the past several decades. See Dirk Krueger and Fabrizio Perri (2006), “Does Income Inequality Lead to Consumption Inequality?
Evidence and Theory,” Review of Economic Studies, vol. 73 (January), pp. 163–93; Mark A. Aguiar and Mark Bils (2011), “Has Consumption Inequality Mirrored Income Inequality?” NBER Working Paper Series 16807 (Cambridge, Mass.