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Inequality, Debt Servicing, and the Sustainability of Steady State Growth

Author

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  • Mark Setterfield

    (Department of Economics, New School for Social Research)

  • Yun K. Kim

    (Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Boston)

  • Jeremy Rees

    (Department of Economics, Trinity College)

Abstract

We investigate the claim that the way in which debtor households service their debts matters for macroeconomic performance. A standard Kaleckian growth model is modified to incorporate working households who borrow to finance consumption that is determined, in part, by the desire to emulate the consumption patterns of more affluent households. The impact of this behavior on the sustainability of the growth process is then studied by means of a numerical analysis that captures various dimensions of income inequality. When compared to previous contributions to the literature, our results show that the way in which debtor households service their debt has both quantitative and qualitative effects on the economy’s macrodynamics.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Setterfield & Yun K. Kim & Jeremy Rees, 2014. "Inequality, Debt Servicing, and the Sustainability of Steady State Growth," Working Papers 1404, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:new:wpaper:1404
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    Cited by:

    1. Yun K. Kim & Gilberto Tadeu Lima & Mark Setterfield, 2017. "Political Aspects of Household Debt," Working Papers 1724, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics.
    2. Hein, Eckhard & van Treeck, Till, 2024. "Financialisation and demand and growth regimes: A review of post-Keynesian contributions," ifso working paper series 32, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Socioeconomics (ifso).
    3. Pintu Parui, 2023. "Worker household debt, functional income distribution and growth: A neo‐Kaleckian perspective," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 446-476, May.
    4. Mark Setterfield & Y.K. Kim, 2024. "How financially fragile can households become? Household borrowing, the welfare state, and macroeconomic resilience," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 121-151, June.
    5. Clara Zanon Brenck, 2022. "Inequality, Debt Dynamics and the Incidence of Tax Rates: Addressing Macroeconomic Instability in a Post Keynesian Model," Working Papers 2212, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics.
    6. Pedrosa, Ítalo & Brochier, Lídia & Freitas, Fabio, 2023. "Debt hierarchy: Autonomous demand composition, growth and indebtedness in a Supermultiplier model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    7. Yun K. Kim, 2017. "Rise of Household Debt and the Great Recession in the US: Comparative Perspectives," Working Papers 2017_03, University of Massachusetts Boston, Economics Department.
    8. Laura Barbosa de Carvalho & Gilberto Tadeu Lima & Gustavo Pereira Serra, 2024. "Household debt, knowledge capital accumulation, and macrodynamic performance," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(1), pages 84-116, January.
    9. Parui, Pintu, 2021. "Financialization and endogenous technological change: A post-Kaleckian perspective," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 221-244.
    10. Mark Setterfield, 2014. "Rising Income Inequality, Increased Household Indebtedness, and Post Keynesian Macrodynamics," Working Papers 1403, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics.
    11. Gustavo Pereira Serra, 2023. "Household debt, student loan forgiveness, and human capital investment: a neo-Kaleckian approach," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 173-206, January.
    12. Hein, Eckhard & Prante, Franz, 2018. "Functional distribution and wage inequality in recent Kaleckian growth models," IPE Working Papers 110/2018, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    13. Cem Oyvat & Oğuz Öztunalı & Ceyhun Elgin, 2020. "Wage‐led versus profit‐led demand: A comprehensive empirical analysis," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(3), pages 458-486, July.
    14. Eckhard Hein, 2017. "Post-Keynesian macroeconomics since the mid 1990s: main developments," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 14(2), pages 131-172, September.
    15. Oyvat, Cem & Öztunalı, Oğuz & Elgin, Ceyhun, 2018. "Wage-led vs. profit-led growth: a comprehensive empirical analysis," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 20951, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    16. Mark Setterfield & Yun K Kim, 2020. "Varieties of capitalism, increasing income inequality and the sustainability of long-run growth," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 44(3), pages 559-582.
    17. Yun K. Kim & Alan G. Isaac, 2017. "Firms’ Retention Behavior, Debt, and Macroeconomic Dynamics," Working Papers 2017_04, University of Massachusetts Boston, Economics Department.
    18. Parui, Pintu, 2020. "Corporate Debt, Rentiers' Portfolio Dynamics, Instability and Growth: A neo-Kaleckian Perspective," MPRA Paper 102870, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Nartey Menzo, Benjamin Prince & Mogre, Diana & Asuamah Yeboah, Samuel, 2024. "Beyond Income: The Complexities of Credit Risk in Developing Countries," MPRA Paper 122364, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 20 Sep 2024.
    20. Oyvat, Cem, 2020. "The role of global finance in the provisioning of social infrastructure and the welfare state," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 26750, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    21. Yun K. Kim, 2020. "Household Debt Accumulation and the Great Recession of the United States: A Comparative Perspective," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 52(1), pages 26-49, March.
    22. Gustavo Pereira Serra & Gilberto Tadeu Lima, 2016. "Sustainability of Student Debt in a Demand-Led Macrodynamics," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2016_15, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    23. Brochier, Lidia & Freitas, Fábio, 2019. "Stock-flow ratios and the paradox of debt in canonical neo-kaleckian and supermultiplier models," MPRA Paper 96252, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    24. Francesco Ruggeri, 2021. "Household debt, aggregate demand, and instability in a Stock-Flow model," Working Papers 4/21, Sapienza University of Rome, DISS.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumer debt; emulation; income distribution; Golden Age regime; Neoliberal regime; expenditure cascades; growth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E12 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models

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