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Intergenerational redistribution in the Great Recession

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  • Andrew Glover
  • Jonathan Heathcote
  • Dirk Krueger
  • José-Víctor Ríos-Rull

Abstract

In this paper we construct a stochastic overlapping-generations general equilibrium model in which households are subject to aggregate shocks that affect both wages and asset prices. We use a calibrated version of the model to quantify how the welfare costs of severe recessions are distributed across different household age groups. The model predicts that younger cohorts fare better than older cohorts when the equilibrium decline in asset prices is large relative to the decline in wages, as observed in the data. Asset price declines hurt the old, who rely on asset sales to finance consumption, but benefit the young, who purchase assets at depressed prices. In our preferred calibration, asset prices decline more than twice as much as wages, consistent with the experience of the US economy in the Great Recession. A model recession is approximately welfare-neutral for households in the 20–29 age group, but translates into a large welfare loss of around 10% of lifetime consumption for households aged 70 and over.

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Paper provided by Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis in its series Working Papers with number 684.

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Date of creation: 2011
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fedmwp:684

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  1. John Y. Campbell & Yves Nosbusch, 2006. "Intergenerational Risksharing and Equilibrium Asset Prices," NBER Working Papers 12204, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  2. Felix KUBLER & Karl SCHMEDDERS, 2010. "Life-Cycle Portfolio Choice, the Wealth Distribution and Asset Prices," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 10-21, Swiss Finance Institute.
  3. Barro, Robert, 2006. "Rare Disasters and Asset Markets in the Twentieth Century," Scholarly Articles 3208215, Harvard University Department of Economics.
  4. Labadie, Pamela, 1986. "Comparative Dynamics and Risk Premia in an Overlapping Generations Model," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 139-52, January.
  5. Meh, Césaire A. & Ríos-Rull, José-Víctor & Terajima, Yaz, 2010. "Aggregate and welfare effects of redistribution of wealth under inflation and price-level targeting," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(6), pages 637-652, September.
  6. Emi Nakamura & Jón Steinsson & Robert Barro & José Ursúa, 2010. "Crises and Recoveries in an Empirical Model of Consumption Disasters," NBER Working Papers 15920, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
  1. Intergenerational Redistribution in the Great Recession
    by Christian Zimmermann in NEP-DGE blog on 2011-04-17 21:10:59
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Cited by:
  1. Rodolfo E. Manuelli & Adrian Peralta-Alva, 2011. ""Frictions in financial and labor markets": a summary of the 35th Annual Economic Policy Conference," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue July, pages 273-292.
  2. Benítez-Silva, Hugo. & García Pérez, Jose Ignacio & Jiménez Martín, Sergi, 2011. "The Effects of Employment Uncertainty and Wealth Shocks on the Labor Supply and Claiming Behavior of Older American Workers," Working Papers 2011-09, FEDEA.
  3. Alan, S. & Crossley, T. & Low, H., 2012. "Saving on a Rainy Day, Borrowing for a Rainy Day," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1222, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
  4. Yanbin Chen & Fangxing Li & Zhesheng Qiu, 2013. "Housing and Saving with Finance Imperfection," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 14(1), pages 219-260, May.
  5. Orrego, Fabrizio, 2011. "Demografía y precios de activos," Revista Estudios Económicos, Banco Central de Reserva del Perú, issue 22, pages 83-101.
  6. James Bullard, 2012. "Comments on “Housing, monetary policy, and the recovery” by Michael Feroli, Ethan Harris, Amir Sufi, and Kenneth West," Speech, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Feb 24.
  7. Bridget Terry Long, 2012. "The Financial Crisis and Declining College Affordability: How Have Students and Their Families Responded?," NBER Chapters, in: How the Great Recession Affected Higher Education National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  8. Nils Gornemann & Keith Kuester & Makoto Nakajima, 2012. "Monetary policy with heterogeneous agents," Working Papers 12-21, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

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