Consumption and Aggregate Constraints: Evidence from U.S. States and Canadian Provinces
FRB of Kansas City Research Working Paper No. 00-04
26 Pages Posted: 2 Jun 2001
There are 2 versions of this paper
Consumption and Aggregate Constraints: Evidence from U.S. States and Canadian Provinces
Date Written: November 2000
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, centered on the persistence of income shocks and on the consumption /income ratio, is consistent with this interpretation but suggests that the PIH still requires qualification. We contrast our results with tests of full inter-state risk sharing.
Keywords: Permanent Income, Consumption, Regional Macroeconomics, Excess Sensitivity, Excess Smoothness, Risk Sharing, US States, Canadian Provinces
JEL Classification: E21
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation