Using Russian longitudinal data for 1994–2018, we document a secular decline in consumption and income inequality. Although within-cohort inequality is also declining, the life-cycle inequality profiles of income and consumption are surprisingly flat. A calibrated life-cycle model with incomplete markets, high initial variance of the persistent income component, and moderately persistent income shocks is consistent with nearly flat life-cycle inequality profiles and the puzzlingly large insurance role of assets found in the Russian data. This is in contrast to the standard calibrations that fail to match the life-cycle inequality profiles and the panel-data evidence on consumption insurance.

中文翻译：

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俄罗斯随时间和生命周期的不平等

使用 1994 年至 2018 年俄罗斯纵向数据，我们记录了消费和收入不平等的长期下降。尽管群体内不平等也在下降，但收入和消费的生命周期不平等状况却出人意料地持平。具有不完全市场、持续性收入部分的较高初始方差以及适度持续性收入冲击的校准生命周期模型与几乎持平的生命周期不平等状况以及俄罗斯数据中发现的资产令人困惑的巨大保险作用是一致的。这与标准校准形成鲜明对比，标准校准无法匹配生命周期不平等概况和消费保险的面板数据证据。