CONSUMER DURABLES AND THE INTEREST RATE

This paper investigates the relationship between consumption of a durable good and the interest rate. According to the standard Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH), a rise in the interest rate is expected to decrease durables consumption, and the magnitude of the interest rate effect should meet certain restrictions. This implication of the PIH is tested using US data. Empirical results of this paper indicate that, although durables consumption is negatively correlated with the interest rate, the magnitude of the estimated effect is substantially smaller than requested by the standard theory. This suggests that the influence of monetary policy on durables expenditure may not be as large as previous authors claim. In attempts to explain the small effects of the interest rate, frictions such as adjustment costs and liquidity constraints are examined. [E21]     

VALUING THE SERVICES OF CONSUMER DURABLES

Although consumer durables are treated as nondurables in most economic accounts, economists have long recognized that they could be treated as capital. If an estimate of the value of the services of consumer durables was available, it could be included in personal consumption expenditures and purchases of the durables treated as a form of investment. Such treatment would give a better picture of changes in a nation's economic welfare over time and make international comparisons more meaningful.
This article reviews the economic literature on how the services of consumer durables can be valued. It examines six alternative measures: the (1) user cost; (2) capital recovery; (3) opportunity cost; (4) market rental value; (5) cost of a substitute; and (6) cash-equivalent value measures. The first three are based on the summation of the costs of the inputs used to produce the services, although only the first two are consistent with the principle that the purchase price of a durable equals the discounted present value of its expected future benefits. The fourth and fifth measures are based on the prices of marketed services while the sixth is derived from the consumer's demand function for the good's services. The article also discusses six major issues in implementing these measures: (1) imputing a rate of return to capital; (2) measuring declines in market value (depreciation and capital gains); (3) accounting for operating expenditures; (4) adjusting for capacity utilization; (5) deflating service values; and (6) defining consumer durables.     

CREDIT CONSTRAINTS IN THE MARKET FOR CONSUMER DURABLES: EVIDENCE FROM MICRO DATA ON CAR LOANS*

We investigate the significance of borrowing constraints in the market for consumer loans. Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey on auto loan contracts we estimate the elasticities of loan demand with respect to interest rate and maturity. We find that, with the exception of high income households, consumers are very responsive to maturity and less responsive to interest rate changes. Both elasticities vary with household income, with the maturity elasticity decreasing and the interest rate elasticity increasing with income. We argue that these results are consistent with the presence of binding credit constraints in the auto loan market.     

INFORMATION FRICTIONS AND HOUSING MARKET DYNAMICS

I examine the effects of seller uncertainty over their home value on the housing market. Using evidence from home listings and transactions data, I first show that sellers do not have full information about current period demand conditions for their homes. I incorporate this type of uncertainty into a dynamic microsearch model of the home selling problem with Bayesian learning. The estimated model highlights how information frictions help to explain the microdecisions of sellers and how these microdecisions affect aggregate market dynamics. The model generates a significant microfounded momentum effect in short‐run aggregate price appreciation rates.     

MEASURING THE STOCK OF CONSUMER DURABLES AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR EURO AREA SAVINGS RATIOS

The purpose of this article is to estimate the impact of capitalizing durable goods on the euro area household saving ratios and disposable incomes for the first time. The reason for this exercise is twofold. Firstly, it is generally accepted that individual households regard consumer durables as assets even though they are not treated as such in the System of National Accounts 1993 . Secondly, the issue is related to the definition of household saving ratios. For instance, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board publishes three household saving measures. The main difference between these saving ratios is that one is derived by treating expenditure on consumer durables as investments while the other two are compiled by considering them to be household final consumption expenditure. We find that the effect of capitalizing consumer durables on EA saving ratios is moderate. The impact is lower than it is in the U.S.     

INCOME UNCERTAINTY,CONSUMER DURABLES INVESTMENTS,AND HOME PRODUCTION: EVIDENCE FROM CHINA

We investigate the effect of uncertainty on home durable purchase decisions, and empirically evaluate the efficacy of consumer durable policies under uncertainty. A model of lumpy home capital adjustment shows that elevated uncertainty leads households to adopt a cautionary perspective and postpone their capital adjustment. We test this prediction using microevidence from China where both uncertainty and home production are substantial. We exploit a wide‐scale rebate program funded by the Chinese government as a natural experiment, and examine the impact on household investment. We find strong, significant, and robust evidence that greater income uncertainty inhibits durable adjustment. Our findings highlight the impediment that income uncertainty poses to investment in home durables, which are often considered as “engines of liberation” in emerging economies. (JEL E21, E64, J22, O16, O23, D91)     

PARTICIPATION IN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON PARKS AND RECREATION

Physical inactivity is considered a major public health problem. We analyze participation in physical activity using data from a nationally representative sample of individuals in 1998 and 2000 augmented with additional state-level data on government spending on parks and recreation. We find considerable variation in participation and time spent in physical activity across different groups of physical activity. Spending on parks and recreation increases participation in group sports but reduces participation, and time spent, in walking for exercise, suggesting that parks and recreation spending may not be an effective policy tool for increasing physical activity. ( JEL I200, I120, I180, L830)     

房地产税、市场结构与房价

本文在住房流量模型的基础上,构建了一个购房者和开发商的住房市场局部均衡模型,考察了完全垄断和完全竞争情形下房地产税与房价之间的关系。结果表明,无论何种市场结构,提高房地产税均导致房价下降;住房市场垄断性越强,房价越高,房地产税对房价影响越大。笔者对1996-2008年中国33个大中城市数据的检验发现,市场结构对房价影响大于房地产税。房地产税增长率每增加1%,房价增长率将减少0.03%;勒纳指数每增加1%,房价增长率将增加0.16%。房地产税与市场结构相互作用将使房价上涨,但影响微不足道。因此,对住宅开征房地产税,将对房价上涨有一定限制作用,但不能有效抑制房价上涨,而增强住宅市场竞争性、降低开发商垄断具有显著效果。     

FISCAL STRUCTURAL REFORM AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITY: PUBLIC SPENDING AND PRIVATE EFFORT*

This paper explores governments' and private agents' incentives to implement or postpone fiscal structural reform attempts. Both fiscal consolidation and fiscal reorganization often create spillover effects and thereby induce free‐riding problems. It is thus important to cope with the free‐riding behaviour of interest groups. It is often argued that in order to attain successful outcomes, a good macroeconomic situation is needed, since we expect positive income effects. In this paper, we first explain the dynamic aspects of insufficient fiscal consolidation due to free‐riding problems in the framework of private provision of public goods. Then, using a static model between central and local governments, we examine the sign of income effects for reform attempts to pursue fiscal reorganization. It is shown that good economic circumstances do not necessarily enhance reform of reorganizing fiscal expenditures, although it could enhance fiscal reconstruction.     

OPPORTUNISTIC MATCHING IN THE HOUSING MARKET*

We construct a model of the housing market in which agents differ in their flow values while searching. Agents enter the market relaxed (with high flow values) but move to a desperate state (low flow values) at a Poisson rate if they have not already transacted. We characterize the equilibrium steady‐state matching pattern and the joint distribution of price and time to sale (for sellers). The expected price conditional on time to sale falls with time spent on the market, whereas the conditional variance of price first rises and then falls with time on the market.     

GLOBALIZATION AND SOCIAL SPENDING

Abstract. We provide evidence indicating that countries with well developed social security systems do not necessarily face a trade‐off between social spending and competitiveness. On average, countries that spend a lot on social needs score well in the competitiveness league. We investigate the importance of a reverse causality from competitiveness to social spending, and find that this is weak. We also present some possible explanations for our empirical finding. Finally, we interpret our findings in the framework of a theoretical model in which risk affects the size of the social sector and social spending affects the production function of the private sector.     

THE STOCK OF CONSUMER DURABLES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM: NEW ESTIMATES 1948–95

A modified version of the perpetual inventory model is applied to new data on consumers' expenditure in the United Kingdom to establish estimates of that part of personal sector wealth represented by the stock of consumer durables. Current and constant price estimates are provided at an aggregate and disaggregate level for the gross and net stock and for the imputed consumption income over the period 1948–95. The accuracy and consistency of the estimates are evaluated in the context of other approaches.     

消费者行为与产品替代的概率选择模型-北京冰箱市场的一个经验分析

本文提供了一个运用离散选择模型进行需求及行业分析的实例。本文在一个三层次嵌套 Logit 模型的框架中,将消费者的购买过程假定为首先在国产品牌和外国品牌之间,然后在大、中、小冰箱之间,最后在不同的品牌之间进行选择。通过对消费者选择概率的加权平均,我们预测了每种冰箱的市场份额,计算出它们之间的半价格弹性,并借此分析了北京市冰箱市场上的价格竞争特点。所有的经验结果都充分反映了消费者特征和产品特征对市场需求的影响。     

消费者行为与产品替代的概率选择模型-北京冰箱市场的一个经验分析

该文提供了一个运用离散选择模型进行需求及行业分析的实例.该文在一个三层次嵌套 LOGIT 模型的框架中,将消费者的购买过程假定为首先在国产品牌和外国品牌之间,然后在大、中、小冰箱之间,最后在不同的品牌之间进行选择.通过对消费者选择概率的加权平均,我们预测了每种冰箱的市场份额,计算出它们之间的半价格弹性,并借此分析了北京市冰箱市场上的价格竞争特点.所有的经验结果都充分反映了消费者特征和产品特征对市场需求的影响.     

COMPULSORY VOTING AND GOVERNMENT SPENDING

Crain and Leonard (1993) examine the effects of compulsory voting on the scale of government spending. The purpose of this comment is twofold. First, problems in the Grain and Leonard's approach are identified. The choice of government consumption, rather than expenditure, as representative of government spending is inappropriate and the classification of non-voters as net beneficiaries of government spending is questionable. Second, the composition of government expenditure is examined. Cross-country data tentatively suggests that voters benefit, relative to non-voters, from government expenditures on defence and economic services while non-voters benefit from government expenditure on health.     

市场情绪如何影响城市房价

基于行为金融学理论建立了房地产情绪指数影响房价的模型，借鉴Baker and Wurgler（2006）提出的构建资本市场投资者情绪指数的方法，从供需两方选取合适的情绪指标；同时，运用大数据方法，选取百度指数作为情绪指标，运用主成分分析法构建了我国35个大中城市房地产市场的情绪指数，实证研究了市场情绪对房地产价格的影响。另外，还测度不同区域房地产市场情绪指数，通过实证分析横向对比东部和中西部城市市场情绪对房价的影响程度。实证结果表明，市场情绪对房地产价格有着显著的正向影响；市场情绪对房地产价格的正向影响呈现区域异质性，东部地区市场情绪对房地产价格的正向影响强于中西部地区。     

HOUSING PRICE AND FUNDAMENTALS IN A TRANSITION ECONOMY: THE CASE OF THE BEIJING MARKET

This article develops a dynamic rational expectations general equilibrium framework that links house value to fundamental economic variables such as income growth, demographics, migration, and land supply. Our framework handles nonstationary dynamics as well as structural changes in fundamentals that are commonplace in transition economies. Applying the framework to Beijing, we find that the equilibrium house price and rent under reasonable parameterizations of the model are substantially lower than the data. We explore potential explanations for the discrepancies between the model and the data.