The Micro Anatomy of Macro Consumption Adjustments
通过分析危机中不同收入阶层家庭消费调整的微观模式，发现高收入家庭的消费收入弹性不低于平均水平，支持了总消费变动主要由永久收入变化驱动的理论。
We study crises characterized by large adjustments of aggregate consumption through their microlevel patterns. We document the cross-sectional patterns of consumption adjustment across the income distribution and find large adjustments for top-income households, who exhibit consumption-income elasticities similar to or larger than the average. We construct a heterogeneous-agent open economy model of consumption under income fluctuations and show that the data patterns are largely consistent with theories that attribute the dynamics of aggregate consumption to changes in aggregate permanent income. We also discuss our findings’ implications for theories based on the tightening of households’ borrowing constraints and analyze policy implications.