The Co-holding Puzzle: New Evidence from Transaction-Level Data
55 Pages Posted: 16 Jun 2020 Last revised: 10 Oct 2023
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The Co-holding Puzzle: New Evidence from Transaction-Level Data
The Co-Holding Puzzle: New Evidence from Transaction-Level Data
Date Written: May 3, 2022
Abstract
Using detailed and highly disaggregated data on household finances, we examine the
tendency of consumers to “co-hold” savings and debt simultaneously. The disaggregated
nature of the data allows us to calculate co-holding at daily frequency. We find that
co-holding mostly occurs in short spells within the month and the level of co-holding
is typically modest, while a subset of individuals are persistent co-holders. Periods of
co-holding are not associated with shocks at the individual level. Drawing on detailed
transaction-level data, we show that co-holding is related to the allocation of different
categories of expenditure to accounts in credit and debit.
Keywords: co-holding, credit card puzzle, household finance
JEL Classification: D12; D14; D15; G51
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation