Consumer Spending and the Economic Stimulus Payments of 2008

Jonathan Parker, Nicholas S. Souleles, David S. Johnson and Robert McClelland

American Economic Review, 2013, vol. 103, issue 6, 2530-53

Abstract: We measure the change in household spending caused by receipt of the economic stimulus payments of 2008, using questions added to the Consumer Expenditure Survey and variation from the randomized timing of disbursement. Households spent 12-30 percent (depending on specification) of their payments on nondurable goods during the three-month period of payment receipt, and a significant amount more on durable goods, primarily vehicles, bringing the total response to 50-90 percent of the payments. The responses are substantial and significant for older, lower-income, and home-owning households. Spending does not vary significantly with the method of disbursement (check versus electronic transfer).

JEL-codes: D12 D14 E21 E62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.6.2530
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (386)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.103.6.2530 (application/pdf)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aer/data/oct2013/20110021_data.zip (application/zip)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aer/ds/oct2013/20110021_ds.zip (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Consumer Spending and the Economic Stimulus Payments of 2008 (2011)
Working Paper: Consumer Spending and the Economic Stimulus Payments of 2008 (2011)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:103:y:2013:i:6:p:2530-53

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Review is currently edited by Esther Duflo

More articles in American Economic Review from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().