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Liquidity and Consumption: Evidence from Three Post-earthquake Reconstruction Programs in Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Antonio Acconcia
  • Giancarlo Corsetti
  • Saverio Simonelli

Abstract

In Italian regions hit by earthquakes, homeowners typically receive public funds to finance reconstruction. While these funds are strictly tied to reconstruction work, they are in part disbursed up front, leading to significant variation in cash on hand. We exploit this variation to study the effects of liquidity on relatively wealthy households' consumption. We find a large and significant response in the first year that homeowners receive the cash and provide evidence that this response is driven by illiquid households with bank debt. Instead, we find no evidence that consumption responds to funds paid directly to firms, thus leaving households' liquidity unaffected.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonio Acconcia & Giancarlo Corsetti & Saverio Simonelli, 2020. "Liquidity and Consumption: Evidence from Three Post-earthquake Reconstruction Programs in Italy," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 319-346, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmac:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:319-46
    DOI: 10.1257/mac.20180190
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    Cited by:

    1. Johar, Meliyanni & Johnston, David W. & Shields, Michael A. & Siminski, Peter & Stavrunova, Olena, 2022. "The economic impacts of direct natural disaster exposure," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 26-39.
    2. Ferrara, Laurent & Metelli, Luca & Natoli, Filippo & Siena, Daniele, 2021. "Questioning the puzzle: Fiscal policy, real exchange rate and inflation," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    3. Zhao, Yu & Yang, Yichen & Zhang, Ning, 2026. "Flood shocks, heterogeneous risk exposure, and housing market dynamics in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    4. Javier Andrés & José E. Boscá & Javier Ferri & Cristina Fuentes‐Albero, 2022. "Households' Balance Sheets and the Effect of Fiscal Policy," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(4), pages 737-778, June.
    5. Zach Raff, 2023. "Identifying the regulator’s objective: Does political support matter?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 194(3), pages 277-295, March.
    6. Antonio Acconcia & Simone Chinetti & Tullio Jappelli, 2025. "Consumption and Liquidity Shocks," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 11(1), pages 17-29, March.
    7. Arin, K. Peren & Marti Arnau, Josep & Boduroglu, Elif & Celik, Esref Ugur, 2024. "Shaken, stirred and indebted: Firm-level effects of earthquakes," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
    • H76 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Other Expenditure Categories
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets

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    1. Liquidity and Consumption: Evidence from Three Post-earthquake Reconstruction Programs in Italy (AEJ:MA 2020) in ReplicationWiki

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