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Borrowing during unemployment: unsecured debt as a safety net

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Author Info
James X. Sullivan

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Abstract

Over the past two decades, U.S. consumers have increasingly relied on unsecured debt to finance consumption. The growth in unsecured debt has been particularly striking for low-income households. Some researchers have suggested that poor households use this debt to smooth consumption intertemporally, implying that these credit markets effectively serve as a safety net for disadvantaged households. This paper examines whether unsecured credit markets do, in fact, play an important role in the ability of disadvantaged households to supplement unemployment-induced earnings losses. I use panel data from two nationally representative surveys to address the two central questions of this paper. First, I consider whether households rely on unsecured credit markets to supplement temporary shortfalls in earnings. While I find no evidence that low-asset households borrow in response to these shortfalls, I show that households with assets do borrow. ; Among these households with assets, borrowing is particularly responsive to these idiosyncratic shocks for younger and less-educated households. The second question I consider is why low-asset households do not borrow. I provide evidence that they are not supplementing these lost earning via other income sources, showing that consumption falls in response to these earnings shortfalls. I also show that the borrowing and consumption behavior of low-asset households is different from other households. While some other explanations cannot be ruled out, the evidence presented here suggests that low-asset households do not have sufficient access to unsecured credit to help smooth consumption in response to transitory income shocks.

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Article provided by Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago in its journal Proceedings.

Volume (Year): (2005)
Issue (Month): Apr ()
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fedhpr:y:2005:i:apr:x:9

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Keywords: Consumer credit ; Unemployment ; Households ; Income;

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Jonathan Gruber, 2001. "The Wealth of the unemployed," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 55(1), pages 79-94, October.
  2. Martin Browning & Annamaria Lusardi, 1996. "Household Saving: Micro Theories and Micro Facts," Discussion Papers 96-01, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
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  3. Marjorie A. Flavin, 1991. "The Joint Consumption/Asset Demand Decision: A Case Study in Robust Estimation," NBER Working Papers 3802, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Jappelli, Tullio, 1990. "Who Is Credit Constrained in the U.S. Economy?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 105(1), pages 219-34, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Christopher D. Carroll & Karen E. Dynan & Spencer D. Krane, 1999. "Unemployment risk and precautionary wealth: evidence from households' balance sheets," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1999-15, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
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  6. Garcia, Rene & Lusardi, Annamaria & Ng, Serena, 1997. "Excess Sensitivity and Asymmetries in Consumption: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 29(2), pages 154-76, May.
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  7. Martin Feldstein & Daniel Altman, 1998. "Unemployment Insurance Savings Accounts," NBER Working Papers 6860, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Steven J. Davis & Felix Kubler & Paul Willen, 2002. "Borrowing Costs and the Demand for Equity Over the Life Cycle," NBER Working Papers 9331, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Donald Cox & Tullio Japelli, 1993. "The Effect Of Borrowing Constraints On Consumer Liabilities," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 228, Boston College Department of Economics.
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  10. Tullio Jappelli & Jörn-Steffen Pischke & Nicholas S. Souleles, 1998. "Testing For Liquidity Constraints In Euler Equations With Complementary Data Sources," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(2), pages 251-262, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Stevens, Ann Huff, 1997. "Persistent Effects of Job Displacement: The Importance of Multiple Job Losses," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 165-88, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Carroll, Christopher D, 1997. "Buffer-Stock Saving and the Life Cycle/Permanent Income Hypothesis," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 112(1), pages 1-55, February.
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  13. Nicholas S. Souleles, 1999. "The Response of Household Consumption to Income Tax Refunds," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(4), pages 947-958, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Bruce D. Meyer & James X. Sullivan, 2003. "Measuring the Well-Being of the Poor Using Income and Consumption," NBER Working Papers 9760, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. Browning, Martin & Crossley, Thomas F., 2001. "Unemployment insurance benefit levels and consumption changes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 1-23, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Zeldes, Stephen P, 1989. "Consumption and Liquidity Constraints: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(2), pages 305-46, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Engen, Eric M. & Gruber, Jonathan, 2001. "Unemployment insurance and precautionary saving," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 545-579, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. David Laibson & Andrea Repetto & Jeremy Tobacman, 2000. "A Debt Puzzle," Documentos de Trabajo 80, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
    • David Laibson & Andrea Repetto & Jeremy Tobacman, 2000. "A Debt Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 7879, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Samuel Bentolila & Andrea Ichino, 2008. "Unemployment and consumption near and far away from the Mediterranean," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 255-280, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  23. Christopher D. Carroll & Andrew A. Samwick, 1998. "How Important Is Precautionary Saving?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(3), pages 410-419, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  24. Eric M. Engen & Jonathan Gruber, 1995. "Unemployment Insurance and Precautionary Saving," NBER Working Papers 5252, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Alessie, Rob & Lusardi, Annamaria, 1997. "Saving and income smoothing: Evidence from panel data," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(7), pages 1251-1279, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  28. repec:fth:pennfi:69 is not listed on IDEAS
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    Other versions:
  30. Cullen, Julie Berry & Gruber, Jonathan, 2000. "Does Unemployment Insurance Crowd Out Spousal Labor Supply?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(3), pages 546-72, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Thomas F. Crossley & Hamish W. Low, 2004. "Borrowing Constraints, the Cost of Precautionary Saving, and Unemployment Insurance," Quantitative Studies in Economics and Population Research Reports 391, McMaster University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Olga gorbachev, 2007. "Did Household Consumption Become More Volatile?," ESE Discussion Papers 161, Edinburgh School of Economics, University of Edinburgh. [Downloadable!]
  3. Ron Borzekowski & Elizabeth K. Kiser & Shaista Ahmed, 2006. "Consumers' use of debit cards: patterns, preferences, and price response," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2006-16, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Raj Chetty, 2005. "Why do Unemployment Benefits Raise Unemployment Durations? Moral Hazard vs. Liquidity," NBER Working Papers 11760, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. James X. Sullivan, 2005. "Welfare Reform, Saving, and Vehicle Ownership: Do Asset Limits and Vehicle Exemptions Matter?," Staff Working Papers 05-117, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Raj Chetty, 2008. "Moral Hazard vs. Liquidity and Optimal Unemployment Insurance," NBER Working Papers 13967, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Ivan Vidangos, 2009. "Household welfare, precautionary saving, and social insurance under multiple sources of risk," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2009-14, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  8. Andreas Lehnert & Dean M. Maki, 2002. "Consumption, debt and portfolio choice: testing the effect of bankruptcy law," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2002-14, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  9. Thomas Crossley & Hamish Low, 2004. "When Might Unemployment Insurance Matter?," Department of Economics Working Papers 2004-04, McMaster University. [Downloadable!]
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