Household real disposable income and real pensions decelerated by 6.1% and 2.5% in December 2016 in comparison with the same period of 2015 (Fig. 1). In contrast, real wage went up by 2.4% in December 2016 compared to the same period of the previous year

In 2018 real accrued wages and salaries of corporate employees increased in Q1 by 10.2%, by 7.6% in Q2, by 6.3 in Q3 and by 4.1% in Q4 against the same period of the previous year (Fig. 1). At the same time, real disposable cash incomes of households grew in Q1 and Q2, 2018, by 2.3 и 1.3%...

We use a semiparametric bivariate probit model to explore the determinants of the conditional probability that a household has informal loans given objective or subjective liquidity constraints regarding access to credit through banking channels. In our empirical study, we use Italian microdata...

How does income inequality impact the propensity for and levels of formal and informal household debt? This paper assesses this question using the two most recent waves of the South African Living Conditions Survey. A range of linear models as well as a zero-inflated Poisson model are employed,...

In this paper, we present two stylized models of the financial system. We make the case that in order to realize the potential of a well-functioning complete financial market, financial system designers and financial service providers will need to think about ways to deliver financial...

This paper contributes the on-going debate on income inequality in advanced economies with a proposal aimed at reducing costly investment mistakes that are prevalent among middle-class households. The paper starts by describing how households should invest, compares it with what we know about...

Assuming a risk-neutral bank and assuming household utility to be exponential, we show how under information symmetry the covariance of income and loan repayments may explain higher household borrowings than in the case without default option. Under ex post information asymmetry and positive...

At the request of the Minister for Climate and Energy, Paul Magnette, who is also responsible for Consumer Affairs, the NBB's Microeconomic Analysis Service conducted an investigation into the link between payment arrears for mobile telephony and arrears on loan repayments. In this inquiry,...

In this paper, we present two stylized models of the financial system. We make the case that in order to realize the potential of a well-functioning complete financial market, financial system designers and financial service providers will need to think about ways to deliver financial...

We specify and estimate a lifecycle model of consumption, housing demand and labor supply in an environment where individuals may file for bankruptcy or default on their mortgage. Uncertainty in the model is driven by house price shocks, education specific productivity shocks, and catastrophic...