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Household Leverage and the Recession

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Philippon

    (NEW YORK UNIVERSITY)

  • Virgiliu Midrigan

    (New York University)

Abstract

A salient feature of the recent recession is that regions that have experienced the largest changes in household leverage have also experienced the largest declines in output and employment. We study a cash-in-advance economy in which home equity borrowing, alongside public money, is used to conduct transactions. Declines in home prices tighten the cash-in-advance constraint, triggering recessions. We parameterize the model to match the key cross-sectional features of the data. The model implies that real activity is very sensitive to liquidity shocks, but not to credit shocks, and that monetary policy can significantly reduce the severity of credit-driven recessions.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Philippon & Virgiliu Midrigan, 2013. "Household Leverage and the Recession," 2013 Meeting Papers 335, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed013:335
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E2 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment
    • E4 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates
    • E5 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit
    • G0 - Financial Economics - - General
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises

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