IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ijc/ijcjou/y2024q1a5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Macro and Micro Consumption Drivers in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Elisa Guglielminetti

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Concetta Rondinelli

    (Bank of Italy)

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the drivers of household consumption in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on Italy. We combine a macro and a micro approach and find that the deterioration in economic conditions can only explain about half of the slump in consumption, both at the aggregate and at the individual level; increased income and health risks significantly affect spending decisions, with heterogeneous impacts across expenditure categories and household types. At the micro level, the unemployed reduce spending for economic reasons, while the self-employed are mainly discouraged by health risks and uncertainty; restrictive measures play a minor role.

Suggested Citation

  • Elisa Guglielminetti & Concetta Rondinelli, 2024. "Macro and Micro Consumption Drivers in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 20(1), pages 181-237, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:ijc:ijcjou:y:2024:q:1:a:5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ijcb.org/journal/ijcb24q1a5.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bachmann, Rüdiger & Born, Benjamin & Goldfayn-Frank, Olga & Kocharakov, Georgi & Luetticke, Ralph & Weber, Michael, 2021. "A Temporary VAT Cut as Unconventional Fiscal Policy," CEPR Discussion Papers 16690, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Guerino Ardizzi & Andrea Nobili & Giorgia Rocco, 2020. "A game changer in payment habits: evidence from daily data during a pandemic," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 591, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    3. Lisa Rodano & Concetta Rondinelli, 2014. "The Italian Household Consumption: A Comparison Among Recessions," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2-3, pages 203-234.
    4. Asger Lau Andersen & Emil Toft Hansen & Niels Johannesen & Adam Sheridan, 2020. "Pandemic, Shutdown and Consumer Spending: Lessons from Scandinavian Policy Responses to COVID-19," Papers 2005.04630, arXiv.org.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gerhard Fenz & Helmut Stix, 2021. "Monitoring the economy in real time with the weekly OeNB GDP indicator: background, experience and outlook," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q4/20-Q1/, pages 17-40.
    2. Bentzen, Jeanet Sinding, 2021. "In crisis, we pray: Religiosity and the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 541-583.
    3. Francesca Parodi, 2024. "Consumption Tax Cuts In A Recession," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 65(1), pages 117-148, February.
    4. Kotkowski, Radoslaw & Polasik, Michal, 2021. "COVID-19 pandemic increases the divide between cash and cashless payment users in Europe," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    5. Natalie Cox & Peter Ganong & Pascal Noel & Joseph Vavra & Arlene Wong & Diana Farrell & Fiona Greig & Erica Deadman, 2020. "Initial Impacts of the Pandemic on Consumer Behavior: Evidence from Linked Income, Spending, and Savings Data," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 51(2 (Summer), pages 35-82.
    6. Surico, Paolo & Bracke, Philippe & Croxson, Karen & Fakhri, Daoud & Valletti, Tommaso, 2020. "Mortgage Market Disruptions," CEPR Discussion Papers 15381, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Michael Weber & Francesco D'Acunto & Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Olivier Coibion, 2022. "The Subjective Inflation Expectations of Households and Firms: Measurement, Determinants, and Implications," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 157-184, Summer.
    8. Hensvik, Lena & Le Barbanchon, Thomas & Rathelot, Roland, 2021. "Job search during the COVID-19 crisis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    9. Renata Bottazzi & Serena Trucchi & Matthew Wakefield, 2013. "Wealth effects and the consumption of Italian households in the Great Recession," IFS Working Papers W13/21, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    10. Martin Brown & Matthias R. Fengler & Jonas Huwyler & Winfried Koeniger & Rafael Lalive & Robert Rohrkemper, 2023. "Monitoring consumption Switzerland: data, background, and use cases," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 159(1), pages 1-16, December.
    11. Francesco Berardini & Fabrizio Renzi, 2022. "Mind the Gap! The (unexpected) impact of COVID-19 pandemic on VAT revenue in Italy," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 669, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    12. Ra�l Comp�s & Samuel Faria & T�nia Gon�alves & Vicente Pinilla & Jo�o Rebelo & Katrin Sim�n-Elorz, 2021. "The shock of lockdown on the spending on wine in the Iberian market: the effects of procurement and consumption patterns," Documentos de Trabajo dt2021-04, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad de Zaragoza.
    13. Roee Sarel, 2022. "Crime and punishment in times of pandemics," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 155-186, October.
    14. Victoria Baudisch & Matthias Neuenkirch, 2023. "Costly, but (Relatively) Ineffective? An Assessment of Germany’s Temporary VAT Rate Reduction During the Covid-19 Pandemic," Research Papers in Economics 2023-04, University of Trier, Department of Economics.
    15. Hasan, Iftekhar & Manfredonia, Stefano & Noth, Felix, 2020. "Cultural resilience and economic recovery: Evidence from Hurricane Katrina," IWH Discussion Papers 16/2020, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    16. Kudaisi, Bosede Victoria & Olomola, P.A., 2021. "Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown on Food Intake in Nigeria," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 9(3), June.
    17. Dorota Janiszewska & Vilde Hannevik Lien & Dariusz Kloskowski & Luiza Ossowska & Christian Dragin-Jensen & Marianna Strzelecka & Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, 2021. "Effects of COVID-19 Infection Control Measures on the Festival and Event Sector in Poland and Norway," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-16, November.
    18. Pedro Brinca & Joao B. Duarte & Miguel Faria-e-Castro, 2020. "Is the COVID-19 Pandemic a Supply or a Demand Shock?," Economic Synopses, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue 31, May.
    19. Laura Bartiloro & Cristiana Rampazzi, 2015. "Financial support from the family network during the crisis," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 291, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    20. Cristina Bernini & Maria Francesca Cracolici & Peter Nijkamp, 2020. "Micro and Macro Resilience Measures of an Economic Crisis," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 47-71, March.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D15 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Intertemporal Household Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ijc:ijcjou:y:2024:q:1:a:5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Bank for International Settlements (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.ijcb.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.