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The contribution of vegetation to the South American carbon balance is critical for understanding the regional dynamics in net carbon exchange. Of particular interest is the role of the Amazon region as a sink or source of carbon to the atmosphere. Recent evidence indicate a weakening of the Amazon carbon sink, and when taking fires into account, the region represents a source of carbon to the atmosphere. In this study we use a regional atmospheric inversion system together with data from the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) and airborne profiles of CO2, to constrain the Net Biome Exchange (NBE) in tropical South America. At the domain-wide scale we find that the atmospheric observations can constrain 64% of the land mass, with uncertainty reductions in most of the Amazon region, and the adjacent Cerrado and Caatinga biomes. Furthermore, we provide a sub-regional-specific analysis showing the effect of assimilating the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory CO2 time series on the mean seasonal cycle of NBE for four areas within the Amazon, the Cerrado and the Caatinga. An emerging sink-source gradient between the Amazon region (sink) and the integrated effect of the Cerrado and Caatinga (source) is found, but the source is located in the boundaries and outside the eastern border of the legal Amazon. Optimized NBE estimates at regional and subregional scales are shown and the importance of the continuous measurements at ATTO is highlighted. Finally, we indicate the areas with a limited data constraint in our system and conclude that the observational network has to be further expanded for reducing the remaining uncertainty in top-down inverse approaches for this region.

The prominence of emission mitigation policies calls for an understanding of their potential distributional impact. To assess the distributional heterogeneity, we quantify and analyse the consumption emission intensity, defined as carbon emissions per unit of consumption, across households in Spain. With the exception of the poorest households, emission intensity decreases with income and peaks for households whose head is middle-aged (40 years old). Moreover, households whose main earner is less educated and male emit more per unit of expenditure. Thus, emission mitigation policies may disproportionately impact middle-aged households whose income is around €1,000, and whose head is male and less educated.

Inflation has distributional effects. Leveraging the data on consumption expenditure on goods across households provided in the Spanish Household Budget Survey we estimate household-specific inflation from 2006 to 2021 in Spain and analyse how it varies according to households’ known characteristics. We show that households with lower income and more members and whose head is less educated, older and male experience higher inflation. Lastly, we also depict the effects of the most recent price increases across households. The differences are substantial: in 2021, inflation for lower-income households (bottom quartile) was 2 percentage points higher than for higher-income households (top quartile), while for households whose head is over the age of 60 it was 1.5 percentage points higher than for younger households.

Tropical forests such as the Amazonian rainforests play an important role for climate, are large carbon stores and are a treasure of biodiversity. Amazonian forests are being exposed to large scale deforestation and degradation for many decades which declined between 2005 and 2012 but more recently has again increased with similar rates as in the 2007/2008. The resulting forest fragments are exposed to substantially elevated temperatures in an already warming world. These changes are expected to affect the forests and an important diagnostic of their health and sensitivity to climate variation is their carbon balance. In a recent study based on CO2 atmospheric vertical profile observations between 2010 and 2018, and an air column budgeting technique to estimate fluxes, we reported the Amazon region as a carbon source to the atmosphere, mainly due to fire emissions. Instead of an air column budgeting technique, we use here an inverse of the global atmospheric transport model, TOMCAT, to assimilate CO2 observations from Amazon vertical profiles and global flask measurements. We thus estimate inter- and intra-annual variability in the carbon fluxes, trends over time and controls for the period 2010–2018. This represents the longest Bayesian inversion of these atmospheric CO2 profile observations to date. Our analyses indicate that the Amazon is a small net source of carbon to the atmosphere (mean 2010–2018 = 0.13 ± 0.17 PgC y−1, where 0.17 is the 1-σ uncertainty), with the majority of the emissions coming from the eastern region (77 % of total Amazon emission). Fire is the primary driver of the Amazonian source (0.26 ± 0.13 PgC y−1), however the forest uptake likely removes around half of the fire emissions to the atmosphere (−0.13 ± 0.20 PgC y−1). The largest net carbon sink was observed in the western-central Amazon region (72 % of the fire emissions). We find larger carbon emissions during the extreme drought years (such as 2010, 2015 and 2016), correlated with increases in temperature, cumulative water deficit and burned area. Despite the increase in total carbon emissions during drought years, we do not observe a significant trend over time in our carbon total, fire and net biome exchange estimates between 2010 and 2018. Our analysis thus cannot provide clear evidence for a weakening of the carbon uptake by Amazonian tropical forests.

Summary of Banco de España Working Paper no. 2214

Inflation has distributional effects. Leveraging data on consumption expenditure of goods across households provided in the Spanish Household Budget Survey we estimate household-specific inflation from 2006 to 2021 in Spain and analyse how it varies according to households’ known characteristics. We show that households with lower income, more members and whose head is less educated, older, and male experience higher inflation. Finally, we also depict the effects of the most recent price increases across households.

Atmospheric methane concentrations were nearly constant between 1999 and 2006, but have been rising since by an average of ~8 ppb per year. Increases in wetland emissions, the largest natural global methane source, may be partly responsible for this rise. The scarcity of in situ atmospheric methane observations in tropical regions may be one source of large disparities between top-down and bottom-up estimates. Here we present 590 lower-troposphere vertical profiles of methane concentration from four sites across Amazonia between 2010 and 2018. We find that Amazonia emits 46.2 ± 10.3 Tg of methane per year (~8% of global emissions) with no temporal trend. Based on carbon monoxide, 17% of the sources are from biomass burning with the remainder (83%) attributable mainly to wetlands. Northwest-central Amazon emissions are nearly aseasonal, consistent with weak precipitation seasonality, while southern emissions are strongly seasonal linked to soil water seasonality. We also find a distinct east-west contrast with large fluxes in the northeast, the cause of which is currently unclear. Wetlands dominate methane emissions in Amazonia, with the largest emissions in the east but no discernible temporal trend, according to nine years of atmospheric methane observations across Amazonia.

El objetivo principal de este capítulo transversal es resumir el estado de la Amazonía como fuente o sumidero de carbono (C). Los procesos y estudios involucrados se detallan en otros capítulos del SPA.

Este capítulo resume nuestra comprensión de los ciclos de tres elementos biogeoquímicos clave en la Amazonía (carbono, nitrógeno y fósforo), que abarcan tanto los ecosistemas terrestres como los acuáticos. Históricamente, el bioma amazónico intacto ha sido un importante sumidero de carbono, aunque este sumidero parece estar debilitándose con el tiempo.

Tropical forest plays a fundamental role in the ecosystem services maintenance. Amazon forests have been subject to intense land use and cover changes (LUCC), mainly in the Southeast portion. Like many tropical countries, more than 70% of Brazilian greenhouse gasses emissions come from LUCC. Under the framework of the CARBAM Project, atmospheric CO2 measurements in four sites of the Amazon, show that there is a reduction in the Amazon forest capacity to absorb C in the proximities of previous deforested and degraded forest areas, such as the well-known “Deforestation Arc” in the Southeast amazon. There are many LUCC databases now available that allow to assess the deforestation, degradation and second forest dynamics and contribute to a better understanding of the carbon dynamics of nine years of in situ atmospheric CO2 measurements. Nevertheless, in order to know how much CO2 is released to the atmosphere due to LUCC, it is necessary to quantify how much carbon is stored in the forest biomass and to assess the biomass variability along the different datasets. Here we compared the forest biomass quantity of three biomass maps: the fourth national communication of Brazil map (official), a global map (Baccini et al. 2012) and a regional map for the Brazilian Amazon (EBA project). We found significant differences for the Brazilian Amazon: between the official biomass map and the regional map 27%, between the global and regional map 25% and the smallest difference was between the official and the global map (3%). Even though the official and the regional maps were obtained using the same data inputs, the official map refers to a potential biomass for 2010 and the regional map reflects the real biomass in 2016, this could explain the difference. The official and global maps represent the potential biomass, and as we used the mean forest area, the biomass content is similar. When comparing these maps at a deforested pixel level the differences could be larger. The spatial and temporal scale of biomass maps make it hard to estimate the CO2 emissions of degradation and secondary forest loss and growth which are fundamental to understand the Amazon C balance under climate change and LUCC pressures. Key words: Amazon, CO2 emissions, forest biomass, land use and cover change, carbon balance

Vivenciamos, no pa��s, uma ascens��o conservadora que, dentre outras marcas, traz a descredibiliza����o das reivindica����es feministas, de g��nero e diversidade. Partindo da ideia de que o acolhimento ��s mulheres em cursos t��cnicos �� um desafio aos Institutos Federais, elegemos, como objetivo geral, aprofundar as discuss��es sobre a equidade de g��nero na Educa����o Profissional e Tecnol��gica, na expectativa de iluminar lugares silenciados ��s mulheres e reiterar a import��ncia do conceito de g��nero como uma quest��o educacional e pol��tica. Especificamente, pesquisamos a participa����o das mulheres no Curso T��cnico em Mecatr��nica, nas modalidades Integrado e Subsequente, no C��mpus Avan��ado Novo Hamburgo, do Instituto Federal de Educa����o, Ci��ncia e Tecnologia Sul- rio-grandense (IFSul). Para tanto, desenvolvemos pesquisa quanti e qualitativa com base em estudos sobre Feminismos, G��nero e Educa����o Profissional e Tecnol��gica e na realiza����o; levantamento de registros acad��micos; e an��lise de entrevistas semiestruturadas com estudantes e professoras. Tratamos, nesse artigo, de um recorte da pesquisa, a partir da categoria ���Resist��ncias para o enfrentamento de opress��es���. A t��tulo de considera����es finais, as articula����es apresentadas neste estudo apontam para a necessidade do fortalecimento de uma Educa����o Profissional e Tecnol��gica comprometida com a forma����o humana integral e permanente da comunidade acad��mica do IFSul sobre as diferentes opress��es, reconhecidas pela pesquisa ou ainda veladas.

Although several studies demonstrate that stressful situations, such as sleep disturbances, negatively impact the innate and adaptive arms of the immune system, their influence on invariant Natural Killer T (iNKT) cells remains unclear. iNKT cells are CD1d-restricted innate T cells that recognize glycolipid antigens and rapidly produce polarizing cytokines being key players in several immune responses, and a potential target for immunotherapy. iNKT cells differ in several aspects from conventional T lymphocytes, including a unique dependence on CD1d-expressing double-positive (DP) thymocytes for intrathymic maturation. As a consequence of stress, DP thymocytes undergo glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis, which might compromise iNKT developmental pathway. Therefore, we used a paradoxical sleep deprivation (SD) model to determine the impact of sleep disturbance on iNKT cell biology. After 72 h of SD, C57Bl/6 mice exhibited a significant increase in systemic glucocorticoid levels and thymus atrophy. Despite marked decrease in the number of DP thymocytes, the ratio CD1d+/CD1d− was higher in SD mice, and the number of thymic iNKT cells remained unaltered, suggesting that SD did not compromise the iNKT developmental pathway. In contrast, SD reduced hepatic IFN-γ, but not, IL-4-producing iNKT cells, without further effect in the spleen. Despite this fact, SD did not affect stimulation of IFN-γ production by iNKT cells, or cytokine release, in response to α-galactosylceramide, a specific antigen. Furthermore, although SD impaired splenic NK cells activity against tumor cells, it did not affect iNKT cell-specific cytotoxicity. Thus, our study shows that SD-induced stress did not impair the iNKT cells’ responses to a cognate antigen.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a Central Nervous System inflammatory demyelinating disease that has as primary symptoms losses of sensory and motor functions, including chronic pain. To date, however, few studies have investigated the mechanisms of chronic pain in animal models of MS since locomotor impairments render difficult its evaluation. It was previously demonstrated that in the MOG35-55-induced EAE, an animal model of MS, the hypernociception appears before the onset of motor disability, allowing for the study of these two phenomena separately. Here, we evaluated the effect of crotoxin (CTX), a neurotoxin isolated from the Crotalus durissus terrificus snake venom that displays, at non-toxic dose, antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects, in the pain and in symptoms progression of EAE. The pain threshold of female C57BL/6 mice decreased at the 4th day after immunization, while the first sign of disease appeared around the 11st–12nd days, coinciding with the onset of motor abnormalities. CTX (40 µg/kg, s.c.) administered in a single dose on the 5th day after immunization, induced a long-lasting analgesic effect (5 days), without interfering with the clinical signs of the disease. On the other hand, when crotoxin was administered for 5 consecutive days, from 5th–9th day after immunization, it induced analgesia and also reduced EAE progression. The antinociceptive effect of crotoxin was blocked by Boc-2 (0.5 mg/kg, i.p.), a selective antagonist of formyl peptide receptors, by NDGA (30 μg/kg, i.p.), a lipoxygenase inhibitor and by atropine sulfate (10 mg/kg, i.p.), an antagonist of muscarinic receptors, administered 30 min before CTX. CTX was also effective in decreasing EAE clinical signs even when administered after its onset. Regarding the interactions between neurons and immunocompetent cells, CTX, in vitro, was able to reduce T cell proliferation, decreasing Th1 and Th17 and increasing Treg cell differentiation. Furthermore, in EAE model, the treatment with 5 consecutive doses of CTX inhibited IFN-γ-producing T cells, GM-CSF-producing T cells, reduced the frequency of activated microglia/macrophages within the CNS and decreased the number of migrating cell to spinal cord and cerebellum at the peak of the disease. These results suggest that CTX is a potential treatment not only for pain alteration but also for clinical progression induced by the disease as well as an useful tool for the development of new therapeutic approaches for the multiple sclerosis control.

The Beam Expander Testing X-ray facility (BEaTriX) is a unique X-ray apparatus now operated at the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera (OAB), in Merate, Italy. It has been specifically designed to measure the point spread function (PSF) and the effective area (EA) of the X-ray mirror modules (MMs) of the Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics (ATHENA), based on silicon pore optics (SPO) technology, for verification before integration into the mirror assembly. To this end, BEaTriX generates a broad, uniform, monochromatic, and collimated X-ray beam at 4.51 keV. [...] In BEaTriX, a micro-focus X-ray source with a titanium anode is placed in the focus of a paraboloidal mirror, which generates a parallel beam. A crystal monochromator selects the 4.51 keV line, which is expanded to the final size by a crystal asymmetrically cut with respect to the crystalline planes. [...] After characterization, the BEaTriX beam has the nominal dimensions of 170 mm x 60 mm, with a vertical divergence of 1.65 arcsec and a horizontal divergence varying between 2.7 and 3.45 arcsec, depending on the monochromator setting: either high collimation or high intensity. The flux per area unit varies from 10 to 50 photons/s/cm2 from one configuration to the other. The BEaTriX beam performance was tested using an SPO MM, whose entrance pupil was fully illuminated by the expanded beam, and its focus was directly imaged onto the camera. The first light test returned a PSF and an EA in full agreement with expectations. As of today, the 4.51 keV beamline of BEaTriX is operational and can characterize modular X-ray optics, measuring their PSF and EA with a typical exposure of 30 minutes. [...] We expect BEaTriX to be a crucial facility for the functional test of modular X-ray optics, such as the SPO MMs for ATHENA., Accepted on 29 June 2022 for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, Sect. 13, Astronomical instrumentation of Astronomy and Astrophysics. Version after language correction

Objectifs En 2020, la COVID-19 a causé plus de 260 000 hospitalisations et près de 64 000 morts en France. La vaccination est le principal espoir pour contrôler la pandémie. Notre objectif est de réaliser la cartographie des risques relatifs à l’organisation du début de la campagne vaccinale contre la COVID-19 dans la région Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, de décembre 2020 à avril 2021 (inclus). Méthode Après avoir décrit le processus relatif à l’organisation de la campagne de vaccination contre la COVID-19, les risques, les causes, les conséquences et les éléments de maîtrise ont été identifiés par 15 entretiens semi-directifs. L’analyse a été menée selon l’approche par processus, complétée par une analyse des modes de défaillances, de leurs effets et de leurs criticités (AMDEC). Résultats Le processus se décline en une approche collective et une individuelle. Quarante-sept risques ont été identifiés et 15 actions proposées. La logistique d’approvisionnement régional, les lieux de vaccination, la gestion des rendez-vous et le système d’information Vaccin-COVID sont les points critiques. La surcharge de travail est le risque le plus souvent vécu (n = 18), favorisant la désaffection des professionnels de santé, menace majeure de cette organisation. L’éligibilité, la consultation médicale et la période post-vaccination sont maîtrisées. Conclusions Cette analyse a permis d’identifier les risques liés à l’organisation de la campagne de vaccination contre la COVID-19 et de proposer des actions d’amélioration prioritaires susceptibles d’optimiser les pratiques actuelles et futures. Elle apporte une vision régionale, à confronter à d’autres données régionales, nationales et internationales.

Macrophages are immune cells that are widespread throughout the body and critical for maintaining tissue homeostasis. Their remarkable plasticity allows them to acquire different phenotypes, becoming able either to fight infection (M1-like, classically activated macrophages) or to promote tissue remodeling and repair (M2-like, alternatively activated macrophages). These phenotypes are induced by different cues present in the microenvironment. Among the factors that might regulate macrophage activation are mediators produced by different branches of the nervous system. The regulation exerted by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) on macrophages (and the immune system in general) is becoming a subject of increasing interest, indeed a great number of articles have been published lately. Catecholamines (noradrenaline and adrenaline) activate α and β adrenergic receptors expressed by macrophages and shape the effector functions of these cells in contexts as diverse as the small intestine, the lung, or the adipose tissue. Activation of different subsets of receptors seems to produce antagonistic effects, with α adrenergic receptors generally associated with pro-inflammatory functions and β adrenergic receptors (particularly β2) related to the resolution of inflammation and tissue remodeling. However, exceptions to this paradigm have been reported, and the factors contributing to these apparently contradictory observations are still far from being completely understood. Additionally, macrophages per se seem to be sources of catecholamines, which is also a subject of some debate. In this review, we discuss how activation of adrenergic receptors modulates macrophage effector functions and its implications for inflammatory responses and tissue homeostasis.

The main objective of this cross-chapter is to summarize the status of the Amazon as a source or sink of carbon (C). The processes and studies involved are detailed in other SPA chapters. The major challenge of determining the Amazon’s status as a net C source or sink at a continental scale is that many complex processes contribute to C fluxes. Unlike in other regions, emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are minor contributors to Amazonian fluxes. Instead, the major sinks and sources of C to the atmosphere are associated with the net accumulation or loss of biomass, with losses including deforestation, biomass burning, and tree mortality followed by decomposition. Biomass accumulates in areas where tree growth exceeds losses. The Amazon includes not only intact forests, also but degraded and logged forests, natural non-forests, agricultural and urban areas, and aquatic systems including wetlands that all contribute to regional carbon cycling.

This chapter summarizes the cycles of three key biogeochemical elements, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, with a focus on carbon, spanning both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in Amazon. The chapter also examines the emissions of two key trace gases which make substantial contributions to radiative warming, methane and dinitrogen oxide, and summarizes trace gas and aerosol emissions from the Amazon and their impact on atmospheric pollution, cloud properties, and water cycling.

Summary: Noradrenaline (NE), the main neurotransmitter released by sympathetic nerve terminals, is known to modulate the immune response. However, the role of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) on the development of autoimmune diseases is still unclear. Here, we report that the SNS limits the generation of pathogenic T cells and disease development in the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model of multiple sclerosis (MS). β2-Adrenergic receptor (Adrb2) signaling limits T cell autoimmunity in EAE through a mechanism mediated by the suppression of IL-2, IFN-γ, and GM-CSF production via inducible cAMP early repressor (ICER). Accordingly, the lack of Adrb2 signaling in immune cells is sufficient to abrogate the suppressive effects of SNS activity, resulting in increased pathogenic T cell responses and EAE development. Collectively, these results uncover a suppressive role for the SNS in CNS autoimmunity while they identify potential targets for therapeutic intervention. : Araujo et al. show that neurotransmitters released by the sympathetic nervous system regulate the generation of adaptive immune responses mitigating autoimmune inflammation within the CNS. Keywords: sympathetic nervous system, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, autoimmunity, β2-adrenergic receptor, ICER, GM-CSF, IFN-γ, CD4+ T cells

Amazon is the major tropical land region, with critical processes, such as the carbon cycle, not yet fully understood. Only very few long-term greenhouse gas measurements regionally represented is available in the tropics. The Amazon accounts for 50% of Earth’s tropical rainforests hosting the largest carbon pool in vegetation and soils (~200 PgC). The net carbon exchange between tropical land and the atmosphere is critically important because the stability of carbon in forests and soils can be disrupted in short time-scales. The main processes releasing C to the atmosphere are deforestation, degradation, fires and changes in growing conditions due to increased temperatures and droughts. Such changes may thus cause feedbacks on global climate.In the last 40 years, Amazon mean temperature increased by 1.1ºC. The length and intensity of the dry season is also increasing, causing a strong stress each year higher to the forest.We observed a reduction of 17% in precipitation during dry season and the transition dry to wet season during this same period. This reduction in precipitation and the increase in temperature during the dry season exacerbate vegetation water stress, with consequences for carbon balance.To understand the consequences of human-driven and climate changes on the C budget of Amazonia, we put in place the first program with regional representativeness, from 2010 onwards, aiming to quantify greenhouse gases based on extensive collection of vertical profiles of CO2 and CO. Regular vertical profiles from the ground up to 4.5 km height were performed at four sites along the main air-stream over the Amazon. Along this period from 2010 to 2018, we performed 669 vertical profiles, over four strategic regions that represent fluxes over the entire Amazon region.The observed variability of carbon fluxes during these 9 years is correlated with climate variability (Temperature, precipitation, GRACE, EVI) and human-driven changes (Biomass Burning). The correlations were performed inside each influenced area for each studied site and show how high temperature and water stress during dry season are affecting the Amazon Carbon Balance. At Southeast of Amazon these extreme conditions are dominating the annual balance. Fire emission is the main source of carbon to the atmosphere, which is not compensate by the C removal from old-growth Amazon forest. The west Amazon almost compensate the east carbon source. During wet/normal years Amazon Carbon Balance is around neutral, but during dry years the uptake capacity is very compromised.

Wetland emissions are considered the main natural global Methane (CH4) source, but it is budget remains highly uncertain. Tropical regions like the Amazon, host some of the largest wetlands/seasonally flooded areas on the globe. However, tropical regions are still poorly observed with large-scale integrating observations. Here we present the first atmospheric sampling of the lower troposphere over the Amazon using regular vertical profile greenhouse gas and carbon monoxide (CO) observations at four sites. Since 2010 we collected bimonthly CH4, to provide solid seasonal and annual CH4 budgets with large spatial resolution. Vertical profiles are sampled using light aircraft, high-precision greenhouse gas and CO analysis of flask air, fortnightly between 2010 to 2018. The results show a regional variation in CH4 emissions. There are comparably high emissions from the northeast part of the Amazon exhibiting strong variability, with particularly high CH4 fluxes in the beginning of the wet season (January to March). A second period of high emissions occurs during the dry season. The cause of the high emissions is unclear. In the other three sites located further downwind along the main air-stream are observed lower emissions, that represents approximately 25-30% of what is observed in the northeast region and with a clear annual seasonality. In addition, these data show an interannual variability in emissions magnitude, so we discuss how these data can be correlate to climate variables (like temperature and precipitation) and with human-driven changes (like biomass burning) that could be influencing this variability. Over the full period the Amazon (total area of around 7.2 million km2) was a source of CH4, of approximately 46 ± 6 Tg/year, which represent 8% of the global CH4 flux to the atmosphere. Using a CO/CH4 emission ratio calculated in this study we find a biomass burning contribution varying between 10 and 23% of the total flux at each site. Acknowledgment: FAPESP (2019/23654-2, 2018/14006-4, 2016/02018-2, 2008/58120-3, 2011/51841-0), NASA, ERC (GEOCARBON, Horizon 2020/ASICA), NERC (NE/F005806/1), CNPq (480713/2013-8).

Demographic change and automation are two major structural trends that will shape the macroeconomy in the coming decades. We present a general equilibrium model with a tractable lifecycle structure that enables investigation of the main transmission mechanisms through which demography and technology affect economic growth. Owing to a trade-off between innovation and automation, lower fertility and population ageing lead to reductions in GDP per capita growth and the labour income share. During the demographic transition, the extent growth and factor shares are affected depends on alternative labour market configurations and scenarios for the integration of robots into economic activity.

We document systematic and significant time variation in US lifecycle non-durable consumption profiles. Consumption profiles have consistently become flatter: differences in consumption across generations have decreased. Pooling data across different periods to identify lifecycle profiles masks relevant time variations and may artificially generate hump-shaped consumption age profiles. The main driver behind lifecycle consumption variations are lifecycle income changes, which display similar flattening. Employing a lifecycle model we show changes in income are sufficient to match the movements in consumption. The contributions of credit, housing and interest rates changes are quantitatively small.

The authors regret that the affiliation details for Ugo De Giorgi were incomplete in the original publication. The full affiliation is k Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, Meldola, Italy The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd