IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/imk/wpaper/13-2010.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Liquidity constraints versus loss aversion in household consumption: a simple reconciliation

Author

Listed:
  • Till van Treeck

    (Macroeconomic Policy Institute (IMK) in the Hans Boeckler Foundation)

Abstract

Various deviations from the Permanent Income consumption model with rational expectations have been discussed in the literature, including loss aversion and liquidity constraints. In the existing literature, these two types of consumption asymmetry are usually considered as mutually exclusive. Using a single data set for US personal consumption, income and wealth for the period 1953q1-2007q3, we show that evidence of either loss aversion or liquidity constraints can indeed be produced, depending on the theoretical and econometric framework applied. We then apply a synthetic asymmetric error correction model that distinguishes short-run and long-run asymmetries and helps reconcile the conflicting results from the previous literature. Our findings can also be interpreted in the context of the secular decline in the US personal savings rate before the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2007.

Suggested Citation

  • Till van Treeck, 2010. "Liquidity constraints versus loss aversion in household consumption: a simple reconciliation," IMK Working Paper 13-2010, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:imk:wpaper:13-2010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.boeckler.de/pdf/p_imk_wp_13_2010.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Asymmetric error correction model; consumer economics; aggregate consumption and wealth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:imk:wpaper:13-2010. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sabine Nemitz (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imkhbde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.