(S)CARS AND THE GREAT RECESSION

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Attanasio, Orazio; Larkin, Kieran; Ravn, Morten O.; Padula, Mario
• 署名单位: Yale University; University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; National Bureau of Economic Research; Stockholm University; University of London; University College London; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; Universita Ca Foscari Venezia
• 刊物名称: ECONOMETRICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0012-9682
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 2319-2356
• 关键词: CONSUMER DURABLES; consumption inequality; partial insurance; uncertainty; DYNAMICS; income; time; expenditure; INVESTMENT; adjustment

摘要

United States households' consumption expenditures and car purchases collapsed during the Great Recession and more so than income changes would have predicted. Using CEX data, we show that both the extensive and the intensive car spending margins contracted sharply in the Great Recession. We also document significant cross-cohort differences in the impact of the Great Recession including a stronger reduction in car spending by younger cohorts. We draw inference on the sources of the Great Recession by investigating which shocks can explain household choices in a 60 period life-cycle model with idiosyncratic and aggregate shocks fitted to aggregate and life-cycle moments. We find that the Great Recession was caused by a combination of large aggregate income and wealth shocks, while cross-cohort adjustment patterns imply a role for life-cycle income profile shocks. We also find a role for car loan premia shocks in accounting for car spending and car loans.