IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/onb/oenbfi/y2014i2b2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Did CESEE Households Weather the Crisis? Evidence from the OeNB Euro Survey

Author

Abstract

During the crisis period from 2008 to 2013 household disposable income deteriorated significantly in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE), forcing households to adjust their consumption plans. Against this background, the present paper sheds some light on households’ consumption smoothing behavior based on microdata supplied by the OeNB Euro Survey for ten countries in CESEE. We find that households reacted to stagnating and in some countries falling income mostly by cutting back on everyday consumption and reducing or postponing large expenditures, while other households coped by reducing the amounts they were setting aside as savings or by drawing on existing savings, overdrawing their current accounts and increasing work hours. Moreover, we find that macroeconomic forecasts by the European Commission, the wiiw and the OeNB are broadly in line with economic sentiment among CESEE households. Finally, Euro Survey results revealed that not all households were able to borrow as much as they would have liked to and that the share of households planning to take out a loan fell between 2008 and 2013.

Suggested Citation

  • Majken Corti & Thomas Scheiber, 2014. "How Did CESEE Households Weather the Crisis? Evidence from the OeNB Euro Survey," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue 2, pages 76-87.
    • Handle: RePEc:onb:oenbfi:y:2014:i:2:b:2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.oenb.at/dam/jcr:d9d203b6-8cd9-4b67-925a-fb1dc8434849/feei_2014_q2_studies_corti.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elisabeth Beckmann & Mariya Hake & Jarmila Urvová, 2013. "Determinants of Households’ Savings in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue 3, pages 8-29.
    2. Lusardi, Annamaria & Tufano, Peter, 2015. "Debt literacy, financial experiences, and overindebtedness," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 332-368, October.
    3. Elisabeth Beckmann & Isabella Moder, 2013. "Households’ Expectations and Macroeconomic Outcomes – Evidence from the Euro Survey," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue 4, pages 65-76.
    4. repec:onb:oenbwp:y:2012:i:181:b:1 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Elisabeth Beckmann & Jarko Fidrmuc & Helmut Stix, 2012. "Foreign Currency Loans and Loan Arrears of Households in Central and Eastern Europe," Working Papers 181, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank).
    6. Christopher D. Carroll, 1992. "The Buffer-Stock Theory of Saving: Some Macroeconomic Evidence," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 23(2), pages 61-156.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elisabeth Beckmann & Anita Roitner & Helmut Stix, 2015. "A Local or a Foreign Currency Loan? Evidence on the Role of Loan Characteristics, Preferences of Households and the Effect of Foreign Banks," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue 1, pages 24-48.
    2. Melanie Koch & Thomas Scheiber, 2022. "Household savings in CESEE: expectations, experiences and common predictors," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q1/22, pages 29-54.
    3. Elisabeth Beckmann, & Antje Hildebrandt & Krisztina Jäger-Gyovai, 2016. "Current risks in the CESEE residential property market: evidence from the OeNB Euro Survey," Chapters from NBP Conference Publications, in: Hanna Augustyniak & Jacek Łaszek & Krzysztof Olszewski & Joanna Waszczuk (ed.), Papers presented during the Narodowy Bank Polski Workshop: Recent trends in the real estate market and its analysis - 2015 edition, chapter 4, pages v1, 103-1, Narodowy Bank Polski.
    4. Piotr Krajewski & Agata Szymanska, 2019. "The effectiveness of fiscal policy within business cycle-Ricardians vs. non-Ricardians approach," Baltic Journal of Economics, Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies, vol. 19(2), pages 195-215.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Orazio P. Attanasio & Guglielmo Weber, 2010. "Consumption and Saving: Models of Intertemporal Allocation and Their Implications for Public Policy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(3), pages 693-751, September.
    2. Ethan Hunt & Dr. Hyungjoon Jeon & Dr. Sang Lee, 2021. "Determinants of Household Savings: An Empirical Evidence from the OECD Member Countries," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 11(2), pages 62-75, June.
    3. Timothy (Jun) Lu & Olivia S. Mitchell & Stephen P. Utkus & Jean A. Young, 2017. "Borrowing From the Future? 401(K) Plan Loans and Loan Defaults," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 70(1), pages 77-110, March.
    4. Katharina Allinger & Elisabeth Beckmann, 2021. "Use of loan moratoria by CESEE households: who are the users and how vulnerable are they?," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q3/21, pages 7-33.
    5. Daniel Fernandes & John G. Lynch & Richard G. Netemeyer, 2014. "Financial Literacy, Financial Education, and Downstream Financial Behaviors," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(8), pages 1861-1883, August.
    6. Corrado, Luisa & Silgado-Gómez, Edgar & Yoo, Donghoon & Waldmann, Robert, 2022. "Ambiguous economic news and heterogeneity: What explains asymmetric consumption responses?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Lusardi, Annamaria, 1997. "Precautionary saving and subjective earnings variance," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 319-326, December.
    8. Marcel Das & Bas Donkers, 1999. "How Certain Are Dutch Households About Future Income? An Empirical Analysis," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 45(3), pages 325-338, September.
    9. Francisco Gomes & Alexander Michaelides, 2005. "Optimal Life‐Cycle Asset Allocation: Understanding the Empirical Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(2), pages 869-904, April.
    10. Tullio Jappelli, 2010. "Economic Literacy: An International Comparison," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(548), pages 429-451, November.
    11. Burke, Matt & Fry, John, 2019. "How easy is it to understand consumer finance?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 1-4.
    12. Christopher Roth & Johannes Wohlfart, 2020. "How Do Expectations about the Macroeconomy Affect Personal Expectations and Behavior?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(4), pages 731-748, October.
    13. David N. Weil, 1996. "Intergenerational Transfers, Aging, and Uncertainty," NBER Chapters, in: Advances in the Economics of Aging, pages 321-342, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Luigi Giamboni & Emanuele Millemaci & Robert J. Waldmann, 2013. "Evaluating how predictable errors in expected income affect consumption," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(28), pages 4004-4021, October.
    15. Mao, Fengfu & Wang, Yuanfan & Zhu, Mengsi, 2023. "Digital financial inclusion, traditional finance system and household entrepreneurship," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    16. Christopher D. Carroll, 2000. "Requiem for the Representative Consumer? Aggregate Implications of Microeconomic Consumption Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 110-115, May.
    17. Bose, Udichibarna & MacDonald, Ronald & Tsoukas, Serafeim, 2015. "Education and the local equity bias around the world," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 65-88.
    18. Beshears, John & Choi, James J. & Laibson, David & Madrian, Brigitte C., 2011. "Behavioral economics perspectives on public sector pension plans," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(2), pages 315-336, April.
    19. Agarwalla, Sobhesh Kumar & Barua, Samir K. & Jacob, Joshy & Varma, Jayanth R., 2015. "Financial Literacy among Working Young in Urban India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 101-109.
    20. Flórez, Luz A., 2017. "Informal sector under saving: A positive analysis of labour market policies," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 13-26.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    economic and financial crisis; consumption smoothing; household debt; survey data; Central; Eastern and Southeastern Europe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises

    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:onb:oenbfi:y:2014:i:2:b:2. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Elisabeth Beckmann (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/oenbbat.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.