Liquidity Constraints of the Middle Class

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Campbell, Jeffrey R.; Hercowitz, Zvi
• 署名单位: Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Chicago; Tilburg University; Reichman University; Tel Aviv University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20180070
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 130-155
• 关键词: household consumption; transactions demand; consumer response; permanent income; panel-data; sensitivity

摘要

Existing evidence from US middle class households shows that their MPCs out of tax rebates greatly exceed the PIH's prediction and are weakly related to their liquid assets. The standard precautionary-saving model predicts the first fact but counterfactually requires MPCs to decrease with liquid wealth. Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances indicates widespread saving in anticipation of major expenditures like home purchases and college education. Adding such savings to the standard precautionary-saving model allows it to generate realistic MPCs for households with liquid wealth: the approaching expenditure simultaneously motivates asset accumulation and raises MPCs by shortening the effective planning horizon.