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Household Consumption through Recent Recessions

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  • Thomas F. Crossley
  • Hamish Low
  • Cormac O'Dea

Abstract

This paper examines trends in household consumption and saving behaviour in each of the last three recessions in the UK. The ‘Great Recession’ has been different from those that occurred in the 1980s and 1990s. It has been both deeper and longer, but also the composition of the cutbacks in expenditure differs, with a greater reliance on cuts to nondurable expenditure than was seen in previous recessions, and the distributional pattern across individuals differs. The young have cut back expenditure more than the old, as have mortage holders compared to renters. By contrast, the impact of the recession has been similar across education groups. We present evidence that suggests that two aspects of fiscal policy in the UK in 2008 and 2009 - the temporary reduction in the rate of VAT and a car scrappage scheme – had some success in encouraging households to increase durable purchases.
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Suggested Citation

  • Thomas F. Crossley & Hamish Low & Cormac O'Dea, 2013. "Household Consumption through Recent Recessions," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 34(2), pages 203-229, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:ifs:fistud:v:34:y:2013:i::p:203-229
    DOI: j.1475-5890.2013.12003.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Richard Blundell, 2016. "Coase Lecture—Human Capital, Inequality and Tax Reform: Recent Past and Future Prospects," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 83(330), pages 201-218, April.
    2. Vesal, Mohammad, 2017. "Stimulus Effect of a Value-added Tax Cut: Evidence from the UK Tax Returns Data," MPRA Paper 101016, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. 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.
    4. Petr Janský, 2014. "Consumer Demand System Estimation and Value Added Tax Reforms in the Czech Republic," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 64(3), pages 246-273, June.
    5. Curl, Angela & Clark, Julie & Kearns, Ade, 2018. "Household car adoption and financial distress in deprived urban communities: A case of forced car ownership?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 61-71.
    6. Anita Ratcliffe & Karl Taylor, 2013. "Who Cares about Stock Market Booms and Busts? Evidence from Data on Mental Wellbeing," Working Papers 2012021, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    7. Rachel Griffith & Martin O'Connell & Kate Smith, 2016. "Shopping Around: How Households Adjusted Food Spending Over the Great Recession," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 83(330), pages 247-280, April.
    8. Ioannis Laliotis & Mujaheed Shaikh & Charitini Stavropoulou & Dimitrios Kourouklis, 2023. "Retirement and Household Expenditure in Turbulent Times," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 968-989, December.
    9. Renata Bottazzi & Serena Trucchi & Matthew Wakefield, 2020. "Consumption Responses to a Large Shock to Financial Wealth: Evidence from Italy," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 122(2), pages 762-789, April.
    10. Thomas Crossley & Hamish Low & Cath Sleeman, 2014. "Using a temporary indirect tax cut as a fiscal stimulus: evidence from the UK," IFS Working Papers W14/16, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    11. Merike Kukk, 2014. "Distinguishing the components of household financial wealth: the impact of liabilities on assets in Euro Area countries," Bank of Estonia Working Papers wp2014-2, Bank of Estonia, revised 10 Oct 2014.
    12. Rachel Griffith & Martin O'Connell & Kate Smith, 2017. "The Importance of Product Reformulation Versus Consumer Choice in Improving Diet Quality," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 84(333), pages 34-53, January.
    13. Apergis, Nicholas, 2015. "Financial portfolio choice: Do business cycle regimes matter? Panel evidence from international household surveys," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 14-27.
    14. Nikeel Nishkar Kumar & Arvind Patel & Navneel Shalendra Prasad & Shayal Nandani, 2023. "Loss aversion or hand-to-mouth behaviour in private consumption models," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(3), pages 247-259, September.
    15. Petar Sorić & Ivana Lolić & Mirjana Čižmešija, 2015. "European economic sentiment indicator: An empirical reappraisal," EFZG Working Papers Series 1505, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb.
    16. Filippa Bono & Maria Francesca Cracolici & Miranda Cuffaro, 2017. "A Hierarchical Model for Analysing Consumption Patterns in Italy Before and During the Great Recession," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 134(2), pages 421-436, November.
    17. Alessandro Bucciol & Raffaele Miniaci, 2012. "Financial Risk Aversion, Economic Crises and Past Risk Perception," Working Papers 28/2012, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    18. J. Magendans & J.M. Gutteling & S. Zebel, 2017. "Psychological determinants of financial buffer saving: the influence of financial risk tolerance and regulatory focus," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(8), pages 1076-1093, August.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

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