Consumption and Aggregate Constraints: Evidence from Us States and Canadian Provinces

28 Pages Posted: 12 Sep 2001

See all articles by Charlotte Ostergaard

Charlotte Ostergaard

BI Norwegian Business School, Department of Finance; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Bent E. Sørensen

University of Houston - Department of Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Oved Yosha

Tel Aviv University - The Eitan Berglas School of Economics (Deceased)

Date Written: September 2001

Abstract

State-level consumption exhibits excess sensitivity to lagged income to the same extent as US aggregate data, but state-specific (idiosyncratic) consumption exhibits substantially less sensitivity to lagged state-specific income - a result that also holds for Canadian Provinces. We propose the following interpretation: borrowing and lending in response to changes in consumer demand is easier for an individual US state than it is for the US as a whole. The PIH may thus be a good model for describing the reaction of consumption to idiosyncratic disposable income shocks even if it fails at the aggregate US level. Further analysis, centred on the persistence of income shocks and on the consumption/income ratio, is consistent with this interpretation but suggests that the PIH still require qualification. We contrast our results with tests of full interstate risk sharing.

Keywords: Canadian provinces, consumption, excess sensitivity, excess smoothness, permanent income, regional macroeconomics, risk sharing, US states

JEL Classification: E21

Suggested Citation

Ostergaard, Charlotte and Sorensen, Bent E. and Yosha, Oved, Consumption and Aggregate Constraints: Evidence from Us States and Canadian Provinces (September 2001). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=283257

Charlotte Ostergaard (Contact Author)

BI Norwegian Business School, Department of Finance ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://home.bi.no/charlotte.ostergaard/

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

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Belgium

Bent E. Sorensen

University of Houston - Department of Economics ( email )

204 McElhinney Hall
Houston, TX 77204-5882
United States
713-743-3841 (Phone)
713-743-3798 (Fax)

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

Oved Yosha

Tel Aviv University - The Eitan Berglas School of Economics (Deceased)

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