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Inflation Expectations, Consumption and the Lower Bound: Micro Evidence from a Large Euro Area Survey

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  • Ioana A. Duca
  • Geoff Kenny
  • Andreas Reuter

Abstract

This paper exploits a very large multi-country survey of consumers to investigate empirically the relationship between inflation expectations and consumer spending. We document that for the Euro Area and almost all of its constituent countries this relationship is generally positive: a higher expected change in inflation is associated with an increase in the probability that a given consumer will make major purchases. Moreover, in line with the predictions of macroeconomic theory, the impact is stronger when the lower bound on nominal interest rates is binding. Also, using the estimated spending probabilities from our micro-level analysis, we indirectly estimate the impact of a gradual increase in inflation expectations on aggregate private consumption. We find the effects to be economically relevant, especially when the lower bound is binding.

Suggested Citation

  • Ioana A. Duca & Geoff Kenny & Andreas Reuter, 2019. "Inflation Expectations, Consumption and the Lower Bound: Micro Evidence from a Large Euro Area Survey," European Economy - Discussion Papers 092, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
  • Handle: RePEc:euf:dispap:092
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    Cited by:

    1. Coibion, Olivier & Georgarakos, Dimitris & Gorodnichenko, Yuriy & van Rooij, Maarten, 2019. "How Does Consumption Respond to News about Inflation? Field Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt3zh865pj, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    2. Hills, Timothy S. & Nakata, Taisuke & Schmidt, Sebastian, 2019. "Effective lower bound risk," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    3. Gabriele Galati & Richhild Moessner & Maarten van Rooij, 2023. "The anchoring of long-term inflation expectations of consumers: insights from a new survey," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 75(1), pages 96-116.
    4. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2019_010 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Stanisławska, Ewa & Paloviita, Maritta & Łyziak, Tomasz, 2019. "Assessing reliability of aggregated inflation views in the European Commission consumer survey," Research Discussion Papers 10/2019, Bank of Finland.
    6. McMahon, Michael & Haldane, Andrew & Macaulay, Alistair, 2020. "The 3 E’s of Central Bank Communication with the Public," CEPR Discussion Papers 14265, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Baumann, Ursel & Darracq Pariès, Matthieu & Westermann, Thomas & Riggi, Marianna & Bobeica, Elena & Meyler, Aidan & Böninghausen, Benjamin & Fritzer, Friedrich & Trezzi, Riccardo & Jonckheere, Jana & , 2021. "Inflation expectations and their role in Eurosystem forecasting," Occasional Paper Series 264, European Central Bank.
    8. Lieb, Lenard & Schuffels, Johannes, 2020. "Inflation expectations and consumer spending: the role of household balance sheets (RM/19/022-revised-)," Research Memorandum 006, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    9. Dräger, Lena & Lamla, Michael J. & Pfajfar, Damjan, 2020. "The Hidden Heterogeneity of Inflation and Interest Rate Expectations: The Role of Preferences," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-666, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, revised Feb 2023.
    10. Ryngaert, Jane M., 2022. "Inflation disasters and consumption," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(S), pages 67-81.
    11. Mary A. Burke & Ali Ozdagli, 2023. "Household Inflation Expectations and Consumer Spending: Evidence from Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(4), pages 948-961, July.
    12. Lena Dräger & Michael J. Lamla & Damjan Pfajfar, 2020. "The Hidden Heterogeneity of Inflation Expectations and its Implications," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2020-054, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    13. Olivier Coibion & Dimitris Georgarakos & Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Maarten van Rooij, 2023. "How Does Consumption Respond to News about Inflation? Field Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 109-152, July.
    14. Coibion, Olivier & Gorodnichenko, Yuriy & Kumar, Saten & Pedemonte, Mathieu, 2020. "Inflation expectations as a policy tool?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    15. Gabriele Galati & Richhild Moessner & Maarten van Rooij, 2021. "Anchoring of consumers’ long-term euro area inflation expectations during the pandemic," Working Papers 715, DNB.
    16. Lenard Lieb & Johannes Schuffels, 2022. "Inflation expectations and consumer spending: the role of household balance sheets," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(5), pages 2479-2512, November.
    17. Stanisławska, Ewa & Paloviita, Maritta & Łyziak, Tomasz, 2019. "Assessing reliability of aggregated inflation views in the European Commission consumer survey," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 10/2019, Bank of Finland.
    18. Haldane, Andrew & Macaulay, Alistair & McMahon, Michael, 2020. "The 3 E’s of central bank communication with the public," Bank of England working papers 847, Bank of England.
    19. Carola Conces Binder & Gillian Brunet, 2022. "Inflation expectations and consumption: Evidence from 1951," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(2), pages 954-974, April.
    20. Ali Inayat, 2023. "Household Inflation Expectations Uncertainty: A Case for Pakistan," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 28(1), pages 1-39, Jan-June.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D84 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Expectations; Speculations
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy

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