The Economics of Financial Stress

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Sergeyev, Dmitriy; Lian, Chen; Gorodnichenko, Yuriy
• 署名单位: Bocconi University; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; Bocconi University; University of California System; University of California Berkeley; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6527
• DOI: 10.1093/restud/rdae110
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 3403-3437
• 关键词: poverty traps; income; WEALTH; CONSEQUENCES; unemployment; malnutrition; determinant; INEQUALITY; CHOICE

摘要

We study the psychological costs of financial constraints and their economic consequences. Using a representative survey of U.S. households, we document the prevalence of financial stress in U.S. households and a strong relationship between financial stress and measures of financial constraints. We incorporate financial stress into an otherwise standard dynamic model of consumption and labour supply. We emphasize two key results. First, both financial stress itself and naivete about financial stress are important components of a psychology-based theory of the poverty trap. Sophisticated households, instead, save extra to escape high-stress states because they understand that doing so alleviates the economic consequences of financial stress. Second, the financial stress channel dampens or reverses the counterfactual large negative wealth effect on labour earnings because relieving stress frees up cognitive resources for productive work. Financial stress also has macroeconomic implications for wealth inequality and fiscal multipliers.