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Working Paper
How does future income affect current consumption?
Working Paper
Saving and growth with habit formation
Working Paper
On the concavity of the consumption function
Working Paper
Welfare and Spending Effects of Consumption Stimulus Policies
Using a heterogeneous agent model calibrated to match measured spending dynamics over four years following an income shock (Fagereng, Holm, and Natvik (2021)), we assess the effectiveness of three fiscal stimulus policies employed during recent recessions. Unemployment insurance (UI) extensions are the clear “bang for the buck” winner, especially when effectiveness is measured in utility terms. Stimulus checks are second best and have the advantage (over UI) of being scalable to any desired size. A temporary (two-year) cut in the rate of wage taxation is considerably less effective than ...
Working Paper
The nature and magnitude of precautionary wealth
Working Paper
Buffer stock saving and the permanent income hypothesis
Working Paper
Modeling the Consumption Response to the CARES Act
To predict the effects of the 2020 U.S. CARES act on consumption, we extend a model that matches responses of households to past consumption stimulus packages. The extension allows us to account for two novel features of the coronavirus crisis. First, during the lockdown, many types of spending are undesirable or impossible. Second, some of the jobs that disappear during the lockdown will not reappear when it is lifted. We estimate that, if the lockdown is short-lived, the combination of expanded unemployment insurance benefits and stimulus payments should be sufficient to allow a swift ...
Working Paper
How important is precautionary saving?