Remarks at the Quarterly Regional Economic Press Briefing, New York City.

The paper focuses on the consumer credit market in Italy and on the related risk of over-indebtedness. Using survey data, it investigates the impact of over-indebtedness on consumption behaviour, evaluating in particular if consumer credit is used to cover gaps in income and if this is...

The paper investigates, in the light of the fast moving changes occurred in the Italian consumer's perception towards new payment systems, some recent transformations that took place in the retailing market. It provides evidence to show the passage from a "cash" society to one based on "credit",...

This paper investigates household access to consumer credit in the UK using information on 58,642 households between 2001 and 2009. Employing a treatment effects model and propensity score matching, we find that non-white households are less likely to have financing compared to white households....

Using credit report data from two of the three major credit bureaus in the United States, we infer with high certainty whether households move to other labor markets defined by metropolitan areas. We estimate how moving patterns relate to labor market conditions, personal credit, and...

This paper solves an empirically parameterised model of life-cycle consumption which extends the precautionary savings models of Carroll (1997), and Deaton (1991), to allow for uncollaterized borrowing and default. In case households choose to default: (i) their access to credit markets is...

In the wake of the Great Recession, steep declines in state and local government expenditures and employment were a large and persistent source of economic weakness. The business cycle was also characterized by large increases and decreases in household debt. We estimate the extent to which...

This paper provides an introduction to the Minsky-Veblen Cycles as a specific example of pluralist economic thinking in the context of the recent global economic crisis. It illustrates how pluralism can be applied to economic research. Specifically, the Minsky-Veblen Cycles combine three...

The study analyses trends in the market for consumer credit during the crisis, relying on data by CRIF referring to demand for personal and special-purpose loans and to contracts signed between 2007 and 2013 in Italy (55 and 37 million respectively). The analysis shows how the sharp reduction in...