Using the first wave of the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS), a large micro-level dataset on households' balance sheets in 15 euro area countries, this paper explores how households allocate their assets. We derive stylised facts on asset participation as well as levels...

Using the first wave of the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS), a large micro-level dataset on households' balance sheets in 15 euro area countries, this paper explores how households allocate their assets. We derive stylised facts on asset participation as well as levels...

Die konjunkturelle Lage in Deutschland hellt sich zwar auf, der Aufschwung gewinnt aber nicht hinreichend an Breite. Die mangelnde Konsumbereitschaft der privaten Haushalte trübt noch die Stimmung. Trotz leichter Zuwächse kann von einer für einen Aufschwung typischen Erholung der...

Im Euroraum und vor allem in Deutschland hat sich die Konjunktur seit dem Boom der "New Economy" lange Zeit nur verhalten entwickelt. Ein wesentlicher Grund dafür war die schwache Dynamik der Binnennachfrage, insbesondere der Konsumausgaben der privaten Haushalte. Sie haben in Deutschland in...

We estimate the degree of ‘stickiness’ in aggregate consumption growth (sometimes interpreted as reflecting consumption habits) for thirteen advanced economies. We find that, after controlling for measurement error, consumption growth has a high degree of auto-correlation, with a stickiness...

I investigate the effect of wealth on consumption in a new dataset with financial and housing wealth from 16 countries. The baseline estimation method based on the sluggishness of consumption growth implies that the eventual (long-run) marginal propensity to consume out of total wealth is 5...

This paper presents a simple new method for measuring `wealth effects' on aggregate consumption. The method exploits the stickiness of consumption growth (sometimes interpreted as reflecting consumption `habits') to distinguish between immediate and eventual wealth effects. In U.S. data, we...

"We estimate the degree of 'stickiness' in aggregate consumption growth (sometimes interpreted as reflecting consumption habits) for thirteen advanced economies. We find that, after controlling for measurement error, consumption growth has a high degree of autocorrelation, with a stickiness...