The Liquid Hand-to-Mouth: Evidence from Personal Finance Management Software

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Olafsson, Arna; Pagel, Michaela
• 署名单位: Copenhagen Business School; National Bureau of Economic Research; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF FINANCIAL STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0893-9454
• DOI: 10.1093/rfs/hhy055
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 4398
• 关键词: household consumption; consumer response; permanent income; MODEL; adjustment

摘要

We use a very accurate panel of all individual spending, income, balances, and credit limits from a personal finance software to document spending responses to the arrival of both regular and irregular income. These payday responses are robust and homogeneous for all income and spending categories throughout the income distribution. Moreover, we find that few people hold little or no liquidity. We then analyze whether people hold liquidity cushions to cope with future liquidity constraints. However, we find that peoples' responses are consistent with standard models without illiquid savings, in which neither present nor future liquidity constraints are frequently binding.