Household Risk Management and Actual Mortgage Choice in the Euro Area Staff Working Paper 2014-1 Michael Ehrmann, Michael Ziegelmeyer Mortgages constitute the largest part of household debt. An essential choice when taking out a mortgage is between fixed-interest-rate mortgages (FRMs) and adjustable-interest-rate mortgages (ARMs). However, so far, no comprehensive cross‐country study has analyzed what determines household demand for mortgage types, a task that this paper takes up using new data for the euro area. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, E, E4, E43, E5, E52, G, G2, G21
How Important Are Liquidity Constraints for Canadian Households? Evidence from Micro-Data Staff Discussion Paper 2012-9 Umar Faruqui, Samah Torchani Using a unique micro-dataset containing real and financial information on Canadian households for 2000–07, the authors address two questions: (1) What is the proportion of households whose consumption displays excess sensitivity to income, and who are likely liquidity constrained? Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Economic models, Sectoral balance sheet JEL Code(s): C, C3, C35, D, D1, D12, D3, D30
February 23, 2012 What Explains Trends in Household Debt in Canada? Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2011-2012 Allan Crawford, Umar Faruqui Similar to the experiences in many other countries, household indebtedness in Canada has exhibited an upward trend over the past 30 years. Both mortgage and non-mortgage (consumer) credit have contributed to this development. In this article, the authors use microdata to highlight the main factors underlying the strong trend increase since the late 1990s. Favourable housing affordability, owing to factors such as income growth and low interest rates, has supported significant increases in home-ownership rates and mortgage debt. Much of the rise in consumer credit has been facilitated by higher housing values (used as collateral for loans) and financial innovation that makes it easier for households to access this credit. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Research Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, D14, E, E5, E51
Why Is Cash (Still) So Entrenched? Insights from the Bank of Canada’s 2009 Methods-of-Payment Survey Staff Discussion Paper 2012-2 Carlos Arango, Dylan Hogg, Alyssa Lee The authors present key insights from the Bank of Canada’s 2009 Methods-of-Payment survey. In the survey, about 6,800 participants completed a questionnaire with detailed information regarding their personal finances, as well as their use and perceptions of different payment methods. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Bank notes, Financial services JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, E, E4, E41, L, L8, L81
The Usefulness of Consumer Confidence Indexes in the United States Staff Working Paper 2002-22 Brigitte Desroches, Marc-André Gosselin This paper assesses the usefulness of consumer confidence indexes in forecasting aggregate consumer spending in the United States. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Domestic demand and components, Economic models, International topics JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, E, E2, E21, E27
Consumer Attitudes, Uncertainty, and Consumer Spending Staff Working Paper 1998-16 Denise Côté, Marianne Johnson This study examines the link between consumer expenditures and the Conference Board's Index of Consumer Attitudes, an index highly regarded for some time as a useful leading indicator of consumer expenditures. However, the theory that identifies why it may be useful in an analysis of consumption is less well established. To explore this question, we […] Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Domestic demand and components, Economic models JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, E, E2