Regional Heterogeneity and Monetary Policy

Martin Beraja, Andreas Fuster, Erik Hurst and Joseph Vavra

No 23270, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We argue that the time-varying regional distribution of housing equity influences the aggregate consequences of monetary policy through its effects on mortgage refinancing. Using detailed loan-level data, we show that regional differences in housing equity affect refinancing and spending responses to interest rate cuts but that these effects vary over time with changes in the regional distribution of house price growth. We then build a heterogeneous household model of refinancing with both mortgage borrowers and lenders and use it to explore the aggregate implications for monetary policy arising from our regional evidence. We find that the 2008 equity distribution made spending in depressed regions less responsive to interest rate cuts, thus dampening aggregate stimulus and increasing regional consumption inequality, whereas the opposite occurred in some earlier recessions. Taken together, our results strongly suggest that monetary policy makers should track the regional distribution of equity over time.

JEL-codes: E21 E32 E5 R1 R2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-mac, nep-mon and nep-ure
Note: EFG ME PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (43)

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Working Paper: Regional Heterogeneity and Monetary Policy (2017)
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