This paper uses survey data for over 23,000 households from 28 transition countries in 2010 to explore how the use of household credit is related to foreign bank ownership. In countries with higher foreign bank presence we find a stronger relation between household income, education and...

We study an Agent-based model of household-bank relationships where households borrow for the purpose of consumption. Desired consumption is driven by households disposable income as well as a social norm of consumption. If households care about their relative position in the economy (i.e. want...

We evaluate the impact of increased income uncertainty and financial liberalization in the US on consumption volatility and household welfare. We estimate Euler equations and measure the volatility of unpredictable changes in consumption as the squared Euler equation residuals. We directly...

This paper examines whether relative income and income inequality within reference groups affect household consumption. Using the explanations of consumption behavior based on Dusenberry's relative income hypothesis, we test if household consumption levels in Turkey are affected by the...