Balance-Sheet Households and Fiscal Stimulus: Lessons from the Payroll Tax Cut and Its Expiration

Claudia Sahm, Matthew Shapiro and Joel Slemrod

No 21220, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Balance-sheet repair drove the response of a significant fraction of households to fiscal stimulus following the Great Recession. By combining survey, behavioral, and time-series evidence on the 2011 payroll tax cut and its expiration in 2013, this papers identifies and analyzes households who smooth debt repayment. These “balance-sheet households” are as prevalent as “permanent-income households,” who smooth consumption in response to the temporary tax cut, and outnumber “constrained households,” who temporarily boost spending. The asymmetric spending response of balance-sheet households poses challenges to standard models, but nonetheless appears important for understanding individual and aggregate responses to fiscal stimulus.

JEL-codes: C83 E21 E62 H31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac
Note: EFG ME PE PR
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Working Paper: Balance-Sheet Households and Fiscal Stimulus: Lessons from the Payroll Tax Cut and Its Expiration (2015)
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