GREATER INEQUALITY AND HOUSEHOLD BORROWING: NEW EVIDENCE FROM HOUSEHOLD DATA

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Coibion, Olivier; Gorodnichenko, Yuriy; Kudlyak, Marianna; Mondragon, John
• 署名单位: University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin; University of California System; University of California Berkeley; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - San Francisco; Northwestern University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1542-4766
• DOI: 10.1093/jeea/jvz076
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 2922-2971
• 关键词: consumption; bankruptcy; neighbors; joneses; boston

摘要

Using household-level debt data over 2000-2012 and local variation in inequality, we show that low-income households in high-inequality regions (zip codes, counties, states) accumulated less debt relative to their income than low-income households in lower inequality regions. We also find evidence that low-income households face higher credit prices and reduced access to credit as inequality increases. We argue that these patterns are consistent with inequality tilting credit supply away from low-income households and toward high-income households, which may have long-run implications for outcomes like homeownership or entrepreneurship.