Inflation Expectations and Readiness to Spend: Cross-Sectional Evidence

Ruediger Bachmann, Tim Berg () and Eric Sims ()

No 17958, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: There have recently been suggestions for monetary policy to engineer higher inflation expectations so as to stimulate current spending. But what is the empirical relationship between inflation expectations and spending? We use the underlying micro data from the Michigan Survey of Consumers to test whether increased inflation expectations are indeed associated with greater reported readiness to spend. Cross-sectional data deliver the necessary variation to test whether the relationship between inflation expectations and spending changes in the recent zero lower bound regime compared to normal times, as suggested by many standard models. We find that the impact of inflation expectations on the reported readiness to spend on durable goods is statistically insignificant and small in absolute value when compared to other variables, such as household income or expected business conditions. Moreover, it appears that higher expected price changes have an adverse impact on the reported readiness to spend. A one percent increase in expected inflation reduces the probability that households have a positive attitude towards spending by about 0.1 percentage points. At the zero lower bound this small adverse effect remains, and is, if anything, slightly stronger. We also extend our analysis to the reported readiness to spend on cars and houses and obtain similar results. Altogether our results tell a cautionary tale for monetary (or fiscal) policy designed to engineer inflation expectations in order to generate greater current spending.

JEL-codes: D12 E21 E31 E52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac and nep-mon
Note: EFG ME
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Published as “Inflation Expectations and Readiness to Spend at the Zero Lower Bound: Cross-Sectional Evidence” with Rudi Bachmann and Tim Berg (January 2014), forthcoming, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy

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Related works:
Journal Article: Inflation Expectations and Readiness to Spend: Cross-Sectional Evidence (2015)
Working Paper: Inflation Expectations and Readiness to Spend, Cross-Sectional Evidence (2012)
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