Borrowing, Consuming, Working: The Economic Impact of Installment Credit on American Households in the Interwar Years

这个项目是一个ROW规划赠款的初步研究如何 美国家庭对信贷市场的参与 他们关于支出、储蓄和工作的决定。 的 重点是使用分期付款信贷，因为违约 分期付款合同导致财富减少， 被购买的商品。 家庭预算调查 两次世界大战之间的年份（当分期付款信贷的可用性成为 广泛）进行分析，以确定之间的相关性 分期付款购物和家庭依赖不止一份工资- 有收入者或非工资收入者;职业或工业 家庭工人的类别;储蓄率;以及 可支配收入比率。 在大萧条时期， 国民生产总值中不成比例的福尔斯下降。 文学证据声称负债家庭严重减少 避免拖欠分期付款的消费支出 合同. 这项研究提供了目前缺乏的证据 断言。 此外，家庭行为的基本模式 显示了最近联邦税法的变化如何鼓励家庭- 股权超过分期付款债务可能会影响劳动力参与 和家庭支出决策。

This project is a ROW planning grant for an initial study of how American households' participation in credit markets affects their decisions regarding spending, saving, and working. The focus is on use of installment credit since default on installment contracts result in wealth-reducing repossession of the good being purchased. Household budget surveys from the interwar years (when availability of installment credit became widespread) is analyzed to ascertain the correlation between installment buying and household reliance on more than one wage- earner or on non-wage income; occupational or industrial categories of household workers; saving rate; and debt service to disposable income ratios. In the Great Depression, consumption accounted for disproportionate shares of falls in gross national product. Literary evidence asserts indebted households severely reduced consumption spending to avoid defaulting on installment contracts. This study provides now-lacking evidence on this assertion. Further, the underlying model of household behavior indicates how recent federal tax law changes encouraging home- equity over installment debt may affect labor force participation and household spending decisions.