Liquidity and Consumption: Evidence from Three Post-Earthquake Reconstruction Programs in Italy

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Acconcia, Antonio; Corsetti, Giancari; Simonelli, Saverio
• 署名单位: University of Naples Federico II; University of Cambridge; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MACROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7707
• DOI: 10.1257/mac.20180190
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 319-346
• 关键词: debt; constraints

摘要

In Italian regions hit by earthquakes, homeowners typically receive public funds to finance reconstruction. While these funds are strictly tied to reconstruction work, they are in part disbursed up front, leading to significant variation in cash on hand. We exploit this variation to study the effects of liquidity on relatively wealthy households' consumption. We find a large and significant response in the first year that homeowners receive the cash and provide evidence that this response is driven by illiquid households with bank debt. Instead, we find no evidence that consumption responds to funds paid directly to firms, thus leaving households' liquidity unaffected.