The Economic Stimulus Payments of 2008 and the aggregate demand for consumption

Households in the Nielsen Consumer Panel were surveyed about their 2008 Economic Stimulus Payment. In estimates identified by the randomized timing of disbursement, the average household׳s spending rose by 10 percent the week it received a Payment and remained high cumulating to 1.5–3.8 percent of s...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Broda, Christian, Parker, Jonathan A.
Other Authors: Sloan School of Management
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Elsevier 2015
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99114
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5441-6296
Description
Summary:Households in the Nielsen Consumer Panel were surveyed about their 2008 Economic Stimulus Payment. In estimates identified by the randomized timing of disbursement, the average household׳s spending rose by 10 percent the week it received a Payment and remained high cumulating to 1.5–3.8 percent of spending over three months. These estimates imply partial-equilibrium increases in aggregate demand of 1.3 percent of consumption in the second quarter of 2008 and 0.6 percent in the third. Spending is concentrated among households with low wealth or low past income; a household׳s spending did not increase significantly when it learned about its Payment.