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The Geography of Consumption and Local Economic Shocks: The Case of the Great Recession

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  • Abe Dunn
  • Mahsa Gholizadeh

Abstract

We estimate across-county spending flows between firms and consumers for every county in the United States, providing a new consumption link that has not been studied previously. We highlight the importance of this link by estimating the effect of changes in local housing wealth on consumption and employment from 2001 to 2019. We generally find that the effect from changes in housing wealth crosses borders to affect consumption and employment in a pattern consistent with our spending flows. However, we find potential consumers who reside outside the local commuting zone disproportionately affect local spending and employment during the Great Recession.

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  • Abe Dunn & Mahsa Gholizadeh, 2025. "The Geography of Consumption and Local Economic Shocks: The Case of the Great Recession," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 17(2), pages 206-244, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmac:v:17:y:2025:i:2:p:206-44
    DOI: 10.1257/mac.20210256
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrea Batch & Benjamin Bridgman & Abe Dunn & Mahsa Gholizadeh, 2025. "Consumption zones," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 25(2), pages 191-213.
    2. Rachel Soloveichik, 2021. "Tracking Marijuana in the National Accounts," BEA Working Papers 0188, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
    3. Mastrosavvas, Andreas, 2024. "Social Networks and Brexit: Evidence from a Trade Shock," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    4. Andrea Batch & Benjamin R. Bridgman & Abe C. Dunn & Mahsa Gholizadeh, 2023. "Consumption Zones," BEA Papers 0114, Bureau of Economic Analysis.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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