Initial Impacts of the Pandemic on Consumer Behavior: Evidence from Linked Income, Spending, and Savings Data

Natalie Cox (), Peter Ganong, Pascal Noel (), Joseph Vavra, Arlene Wong, Diana Farrell and Fiona Greig
Additional contact information
Natalie Cox: Princeton University - Department of Economics
Pascal Noel: University of Chicago - Booth School of Business
Diana Farrell: JPMorgan Chase Institute
Fiona Greig: JPMorgan Chase Institute

No 2020-82, Working Papers from Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics

Abstract: We use U.S. household-level bank account data to investigate the heterogeneous effects of the pandemic on spending and savings. Households across the income distribution all cut spending from March to early April. Since mid April, spending has rebounded most rapidly for low-income households. We find large increases in liquid asset balances for households throughout the income distribution. However, lower-income households contribute disproportionately to the aggregate increase in balances, relative to their pre-pandemic shares. Taken together, our results suggest that spending declines in the initial months of the recession were primarily caused by direct effects of the pandemic, rather than resulting from labor market disruptions. The sizable growth in liquid assets we observe for low-income households suggests that stimulus and insurance programs during this period likely played an important role in limiting the effects of labor market disruptions on spending.

Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ias
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (135)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Initial Impacts of the Pandemic on Consumer Behavior: Evidence from Linked Income, Spending, and Savings Data (2020)
Working Paper: Initial Impacts of the Pandemic on Consumer Behavior: Evidence from Linked Income, Spending, and Savings Data (2020)
Working Paper: Initial impacts of the pandemic on consumer behavior: Evidence from linked income, spending, and savings data (2020)
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