Heterogeneous Consumers and Fiscal Policy Shocks
利用消费支出调查数据，研究政府支出意外变化对不同收入与年龄消费者的异质性影响，发现最富者行为符合真实经济周期模型，最穷者受信贷约束影响，且政府支出冲击倾向于降低消费不平等。
This paper studies empirical facts regarding the effects of unexpected changes in aggregate macroeconomic fiscal policies on consumers that differ depending on individual characteristics. We use data from the Consumption Expenditure Survey to estimate individual‐level responses and multipliers for government spending. We find that unexpected fiscal shocks have substantially different effects on consumers depending on their income and age levels: the wealthiest individuals tend to behave according to predictions of standard Real Business Cycle (RBC) models, whereas the poorest ones behave according to standard IS–LM (non‐Ricardian) models, most likely due to credit constraints. Furthermore, government spending policy shocks tend to decrease consumption inequality.