scholarly journals What is the size of credit card debt in Brazil? Data reporting to the Central Bank, interest rates and income distribution

2021 ◽  
pp. 100460
Author(s):  
Maria Paula Bertran ◽  
David Echeverry
Keyword(s):  
Income Distribution ◽  
Central Bank ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Credit Card ◽  
Credit Card Debt ◽  
Data Reporting

Overconfidence in the Credit Card Market

2016 ◽  
pp. 150-168
Author(s):  
Susan Kriete-Dodds ◽  
Dietmar Maringer
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Credit Card ◽  
Trading Volume ◽  
Credit Card Debt ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Credit Card Market ◽  
Income Expectations ◽  
Credit Card Usage ◽  
Payment Credit ◽  
The U.S

High credit card debt default has been symptomatic for the U.S. and other countries in the last decades. Different explanations for this situation exist in the literature. One explanation is overconfidence, which has become a key concept in behavioural economics for explaining anomalies in financial markets such as excessive trading volume. There is also the idea that overconfidence is to blame for high credit card debt. In this paper, an agent-based model is presented that examines the effects of overconfidence on credit card usage. Overconfidence is used here to explain why people who never intend to borrow on their credit card(s) do so anyway. The model contains consumption, two means of payment (credit card and cash), and a distortion to agents' income expectations via overconfidence. It was found that overconfidence leads to more “accidental” borrowing and higher interest rates.

Development and validation of financial well-being related scales

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 1025-1040 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farah Diba M.A. Abrantes-Braga ◽  
Tania Veludo-de-Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Credit Card ◽  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Confirmatory Factor Analyses ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Convergent And Discriminant Validity ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Development And Validation ◽  
Additional Income

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop valid and reliable scales for assessing a driver and two obstacles potentially related to financial well-being (FWB): financial preparedness for emergency, beliefs of credit limits as additional income and risky indebtedness behaviour.Design/methodology/approachThe scales were developed from scratch across six studies, employing a two-step methodology, which encompassed both qualitative (e.g. focus group, interviews) and quantitative (i.e. online surveys) data collection. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were employed to test and validate the proposed scales.FindingsThis study provides a set of three parsimonious, self-reported behavioural measures that could be employed in conjunction with objective economic indicators to identify individuals who are financially ill prepared and potential candidates for delinquency. The three proposed scales achieved satisfactory levels of reliability and convergent and discriminant validity.Research limitations/implicationsThe resulting scales still need to be tested for predictive validity and in different consumer groups. The scales were validated in a single culture population (Brazil, a country that presents extraordinarily high credit card interest rates), and they should be tested cross-culturally in countries with different economic and credit policies.Originality/valueThe literature on FWB has traditionally employed objective financial indicators as an attempt to measure the concept of FWB and its elements. Self-reported behavioural measures of such constructs are scant to the point of being non-existent for some elements. This study is the first to offer scales for measuring the elements of financial preparedness for emergency, beliefs of credit limits as additional income and risky indebtedness behaviour.

scholarly journals Does the visual salience of credit card features affect choice?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Matthew D. Hilchey ◽  
Matthew Osborne ◽  
Dilip Soman
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Random Sample ◽  
Credit Card ◽  
Credit Cards ◽  
Salient Feature ◽  
The Other ◽  
Visual Salience ◽  
Product Features ◽  
Hypothetical Scenario

Abstract Regulators require lenders to display a subset of credit card features in summary tables before customers finalize a credit card choice. Some jurisdictions require some features to be displayed more prominently than others to help ensure that consumers are made aware of them. This approach could lead to untoward effects on choice, such that relevant but nonprominent product features do not factor in as significantly. To test this possibility, we instructed a random sample of 1615 adults to choose between two hypothetical credit cards whose features were shown side by side in tables. The sample was instructed to select the card that would result in the lowest financial charges, given a hypothetical scenario. Critically, we randomly varied whether the annual interest rates and fees were made visually salient by making one, both, or neither brighter than other features. The findings show that even among credit-savvy individuals, choice tends strongly toward the product that outperforms the other on a salient feature. As a result, we encourage regulators to consider not only whether a key feature should be made more salient, but also the guidelines regarding when a key feature should be displayed prominently during credit card acquisition.

scholarly journals A Theory of Foreign Exchange Interventions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastián Fanelli ◽  
Ludwig Straub
Keyword(s):  
Exchange Rate ◽  
Central Bank ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Open Economy ◽  
Small Open Economy ◽  
Bond Markets ◽  
Pecuniary Externality ◽  
Optimal Intervention ◽  
The Exchange Rate ◽  
Intervention Policy

Abstract We study a real small open economy with two key ingredients (1) partial segmentation of home and foreign bond markets and (2) a pecuniary externality that makes the real exchange rate excessively volatile in response to capital flows. Partial segmentation implies that, by intervening in the bond markets, the central bank can affect the exchange rate and the spread between home- and foreign-bond yields. Such interventions allow the central bank to address the pecuniary externality, but they are also costly, as foreigners make carry trade profits. We analytically characterize the optimal intervention policy that solves this trade-off: (1) the optimal policy leans against the wind, stabilizing the exchange rate; (2) it involves smooth spreads but allows exchange rates to jump; (3) it partly relies on “forward guidance,” with non-zero interventions even after the shock has subsided; (4) it requires credibility, in that central banks do not intervene without commitment. Finally, we shed light on the global consequences of widespread interventions, using a multi-country extension of our model. We find that, left to themselves, countries over-accumulate reserves, reducing welfare and leading to inefficiently low world interest rates.

Central Bank Liquidity Management and the Signal Extraction Problem on the Money Market / Die Liquiditätssteuerung der Notenbank und das Signal-extraktionsproblem am Geldmarkt

2000 ◽  
Vol 220 (3) ◽  
pp. 284-301
Author(s):  
Ulrich Bindseil
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Central Bank ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Term Structure ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Money Market ◽  
Signal Extraction ◽  
Maintenance Period ◽  
Liquidity Management ◽  
Expectation Theory

Summary Understanding the factors determining overnight rates is crucial both for central bankers and private market participants, since, assuming the validity of the expectation theory of the term structure of interest rates, expectations with regard to this “monadic” maturity should determine longer term rates, which are deemed to be relevant for the transmission of monetary policy. The note proposes a simple model of the money market within a two-day long reserve maintenance period to derive relationships between the relevant quantities, expectations concerning these quantities for the rest of the reserve maintenance period, and overnight rates. It is argued that a signal extraction problem faced by banks when observing quantities such as their aggregate reserve holdings and allotment amounts of monetary policy operations is at the core of these relationships. The usefulness of the model is illustrated by applying it to the analysis of three alternative liquidity management strategies of a central bank.

Australian central bank holds rate as growth slips

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Central Bank ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Commercial Lenders ◽  
The Government ◽  
Roll Out ◽  
Growth Forecasts

Significance The RBA has cut its growth forecasts amid rising job losses, weakening demand and increasing signs that the latest COVID-19 lockdowns will continue to slow the economy until the pace of the vaccine roll-out programme can be increased. Impacts Although the RBA is independent, the government will hope it keeps rates low ahead of the elections due next year. Commercial lenders could raise interest rates independently of the RBA if inflation remains high. Wage pressures will re-emerge as labour markets tighten but may be mitigated by the extent of underemployment. Economic growth will be uneven across the country in coming months as pandemic-related restrictions vary by location.

Inflation Inequality: Measurement, Causes, and Policy Implications

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier Jaravel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Income Distribution ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Optimal Taxation ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date

Does inflation vary across the income distribution? This article reviews the growing literature on inflation inequality, describing recent advances and opportunities for further research in four areas. First, new price index theory facilitates the study of inflation inequality. Second, new data show that inflation rates decline with household income in the United States. Accurate measurement requires granular price and expenditure data because of aggregation bias. Third, new evidence quantifies the impacts of innovation and trade on inflation inequality. Contrary to common wisdom, empirical estimates show that the direction of innovation is a significant driver of inflation inequality in the United States, whereas trade has similar price effects across the income distribution. Fourth, inflation inequality and non-homotheticities have important policy implications. They transform cost-benefit analysis, optimal taxation, the effectiveness of stabilization policies, and our understanding of secular macroeconomic trends—including structural change, the decline in the labor share and interest rates, and labor market polarization. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Economics, Volume 13 is August 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

scholarly journals An Interpretation of Recent Research on Exchange Rate Target Zones

1992 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 119-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars E. O Svensson
Keyword(s):  
Exchange Rate ◽  
Central Bank ◽  
Exchange Rates ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Target Zones ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Exchange Rate Target Zones ◽  
Main Ideas ◽  
Central Bank Interventions

How do exchange rate bands work compared to completely fixed rates (between realignments); or, more precisely, what are the dynamics of exchange rates, interest rates, and central bank interventions within exchange rate bands? Does the difference between bands and completely fixed exchange rates matter, and if so, which of the two arrangements is best; or, more precisely, what are the tradeoffs that determine the optimal bandwidth? This article will present an interpretation of some selected recent theoretical and empirical research on exchange rate target zones, with emphasis on main ideas and results and without technical detail.

scholarly journals A GROWTH PERSPECTIVE ON FOREIGN RESERVE ACCUMULATION

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1358-1379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gong Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Central Bank ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Open Economy ◽  
Economic Transition ◽  
Domestic Saving ◽  
Foreign Reserves ◽  
Foreign Reserve ◽  
Reserve Accumulation ◽  
Joint Strategy ◽  
Retained Earnings

Based on a dynamic open-economy macroeconomic model, this paper analyzes the motive for foreign reserve accumulation in fast-growing emerging economies. The demand for foreign reserves stems from the interaction between productivity growth and underdevelopment of the domestic financial market. As domestic firms are credit-constrained, domestic saving instruments are necessary to increase their retained earnings in order to invest in capital. The central bank plays the role of a financial intermediary and provides liquid public bonds while investing the bond proceeds abroad in the form of foreign reserves. Foreign reserve accumulation is thus part of a catching-up strategy in an economy facing financial frictions. During economic transition, foreign reserve accumulation is proved to be welfare-improving as long as private capital flows are controlled. This joint strategy enables the central bank to channel sufficient external funding to the domestic economy while keeping domestic interest rates under control to cope with positive productivity shocks.

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