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Distributional Effects of COVID-19 on Spending: A First Look at the Evidence from Spain

Author

Listed:
  • José García-Montalvo
  • Marta Reynal-Querol

Abstract

We use data from a a large Spanish personal finance management fintech to have a first look at the heterogeneous effects of the COVID-19 on spending. We show a large reduction on spending since mid- March, coinciding with the shutdown of the economy and the strict confinement of population. Since the end of April the is a recovery of spending although, by the end of June, it is still 20% below the level of the previous year. Opposite to what has been observed in other countries, the recovery of spending is not more intense in low-income families than in their high-income counterparts. However, there is some evidence of differences in the intensity of rebound by age and account balance. This suggest differences in the intensity of government benefits for low-income families and financial difficulties for low-liquidity families.

Suggested Citation

  • José García-Montalvo & Marta Reynal-Querol, 2020. "Distributional Effects of COVID-19 on Spending: A First Look at the Evidence from Spain," Working Papers 1201, Barcelona School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:bge:wpaper:1201
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    Cited by:

    1. Selien De Schryder & Nikolaos Koutounidis & Koen Schoors & Johannes Weytjens, 2024. "Assessing the Heterogeneous Impact of COVID-19 on Consumption Using Bank Transactions," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 24/1090, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    2. Stefanie Stantcheva, 2022. "Inequalities in the times of a pandemic," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 37(109), pages 5-41.
    3. Aspachs, Oriol & Graziano, Alberto & Mestres, Josep & Montalvo, Jose G. & Reynal-Querol, Marta, 2024. "Spending response to cash transfers to shield households from inflation: Evidence from bank accounts," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    4. Kubota, So & Onishi, Koichiro & Toyama, Yuta, 2021. "Consumption responses to COVID-19 payments: Evidence from a natural experiment and bank account data," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 1-17.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    spending; income; liquidity; COVID-19; administrative data; high frequency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E65 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Studies of Particular Policy Episodes
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household

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