American Economic Journal: Economic Policy

最新文章

• Payment Size, Negative Equity, and Mortgage Default AI翻译
  作者：Fuster, Andreas; Willen, Paul S.
  作者单位：Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - New York; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Boston; National Bureau of Economic Research
  摘要：This paper studies the treatment effect of monthly payment size on mortgage default, using a sample of adjustable-rate loans that experienced large payment reductions thanks to the recent low interest rate environment. Payment size has an economically large effect on repayment behavior; for instance, cutting the required payment in half reduces the delinquency hazard by about 55 percent. Importantly, the link between payment size and delinquency is equally strong for borrowers that are signifi...
• Household Finance after a Natural Disaster: The Case of Hurricane Katrina AI翻译
  作者：Gallagher, Justin; Hartley, Daniel
  作者单位：University System of Ohio; Case Western Reserve University; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Chicago
  摘要：Little is known about how affected residents are able to cope with the financial shock of a natural disaster. This paper investigates the impact of flooding on household finance. Spikes in credit card borrowing and overall delinquency rates for the most flooded residents are modest in size and short-lived. Greater flooding results in larger reductions in total debt. Lower debt levels are driven by homeowners using flood insurance to repay their mortgages rather than to rebuild. Mortgage reduct...
• Causal Spousal Health Spillover Effects and Implications for Program Evaluation AI翻译
  作者：Fletcher, Jason; Marksteiner, Ryne
  作者单位：University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison
  摘要：Current methods of cost effectiveness analysis implicitly assume zero spillovers among social ties. This can underestimate the benefits of health interventions and misallocate resources toward interventions with lower comprehensive effects. We discuss the implications of social spillovers for program evaluation and document the first evidence of causal spillovers of health behaviors between spouses by leveraging experimental data from the Lung Health Study (smoking) and COMBINE Study (drinking...
• Understanding Consumption Behavior: Evidence from Consumers' Reaction to Shopping Vouchers AI翻译
  作者：Kan, Kamhon; Peng, Shin-Kun; Wang, Ping
  作者单位：Academia Sinica - Taiwan; National Central University; National Taiwan University; Washington University (WUSTL); Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - St. Louis; National Bureau of Economic Research
  摘要：This paper advances our understanding of consumption behavior using the 2009 Taiwan Shopping Voucher Program. This program was universal and well publicized, and its payment to each individual was medium-sized. Based on survey data, it is found that the marginal propensity to consume is about one quarter, which is comparable to findings obtained by previous studies on consumers' response to fiscal stimulus payments. Further, vendors' discounts for voucher users played a significant role in boo...
• Consumption Responses to Temporary Tax Incentives: Evidence from State Sales Tax Holidays AI翻译
  作者：Agarwal, Sumit; Marwell, Nathan; McGranahan, Leslie
  作者单位：Georgetown University; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Chicago
  摘要：States offer sales tax holidays (STHs) temporarily exempting items like clothes, shoes, and school supplies from the state sales tax. Spending response to these temporary tax changes are investigated using two datasets: the Diary portion of the Consumer Expenditure Survey and a unique dataset of credit card transactions. Results based on a difference-in-differences methodology show that there are substantial increases in spending on covered goods during these holidays that are not offset by de...
• Trade Shocks and the Provision of Local Public Goods AI翻译
  作者：Feler, Leo; Senses, Mine Z.
  作者单位：Boston Consulting Group (BCG); Johns Hopkins University
  摘要：We analyze the impact of trade-induced income shocks on the size of local government and the provision of public services. Areas in the United States with declining labor demand and incomes due to increasing import competition from China experience relative declines in housing prices and business activity. Since local governments are disproportionately funded through property and sales taxation, declining property values and a decrease in economic activity translate into less revenue, which co...
• Are Information Disclosures Effective? Evidence from the Credit Card Market AI翻译
  作者：Seira, Enrique; Elizondo, Alan; Laguna-Muggenburg, Eduardo
  作者单位：Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico; Bank of Mexico; Stanford University
  摘要：Consumer protection in financial markets in the form of information disclosure is high on government agendas, even though there is little evidence of its effectiveness. We implement a randomized control trial in the credit card market for a large population of indebted cardholders and measure the impact of Truth-in-Lending-Act-type disclosures, de-biasing warning messages and social comparison information on default, indebtedness, account closings, and credit scores. We conduct extensive exter...
• Power to Choose? An Analysis of Consumer Inertia in the Residential Electricity Market AI翻译
  作者：Hortacsu, Ali; Madanizadeh, Seyed Ali; Puller, Steven L.
  作者单位：University of Chicago; Texas A&M University System; Texas A&M University College Station
  摘要：Many jurisdictions around the world have deregulated utilities and opened retail markets to competition. However, inertial decision making can diminish consumer benefits of retail competition. Using household-level data from the Texas residential electricity market, we document evidence of consumer inertia. We estimate an econometric model of retail choice to measure two sources of inertia: search frictions/inattention and a brand advantage that consumers afford the incumbent. We find that hou...
• Does Money Matter in the Long Run? Effects of School Spending on Educational Attainment AI翻译
  作者：Hyman, Joshua
  摘要：This paper measures the effect of increased primary school spending on students' college enrollment and completion. Using student-level panel administrative data, I exploit variation in the school funding formula imposed by Michigan's 1994 school finance reform, Proposal A. Students exposed to $1,000 (10 percent) more spending were 3 percentage points (7 percent) more likely to enroll in college and 2.3 percentage points (11 percent) more likely to earn a postsecondary degree. The effects were...
• Are State Governments Roadblocks to Federal Stimulus? Evidence on the Flypaper Effect of Highway Grants in the 2009 Recovery Act AI翻译
  作者：Leduc, Sylvain; Wilson, Daniel
  作者单位：Bank of Canada; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - San Francisco
  摘要：This paper examines how state governments adjusted spending in response to the large temporary increase in federal highway grants under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The mechanism used to apportion ARRA highway grants to states allows one to isolate exogenous changes in these grants. The results indicate that states increased highway spending over 2009 to 2011 more than dollar-for-dollar with the ARRA grants they received. Rent-seeking efforts are shown to help explai...