Accelerator or Brake? Cash for Clunkers, Household Liquidity, and Aggregate Demand

American Economic Journal Economic Policy ◽

10.1257/pol.20170122 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 178-211

Author(s):

Daniel Green ◽

Brian T. Melzer ◽

Jonathan A. Parker ◽

Arcenis Rojas

Keyword(s):

Aggregate Demand ◽

Loan Repayment ◽

Cash For Clunkers ◽

Down Payments ◽

Large Response

This paper evaluates the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS ) by comparing the vehicle purchases and disposals of households with eligible “clunkers” to those of households with similar but ineligible vehicles. CARS caused roughly 500,000 purchases during the program period. The provision of liquidity, through a rebate usable as a down payment, was critical in generating this large response. Participation was rare among households that owned clunkers with outstanding loans, which required loan repayment. This decline in participation is attributed to households’ preference for lower down payments and distinguished from the effects of income, other indebtedness, and the program subsidy. (JEL E23, E62, G51, H24, H31)

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Economic effects of monetary policy in Russia: What do large datasets tell us?

Voprosy Ekonomiki ◽

10.32609/0042-8736-2020-4-31-53 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 31-53 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Anna A. Pestova ◽

Natalia A. Rostova

Keyword(s):

Monetary Policy ◽

Interest Rate ◽

Interest Rates ◽

Economic Activity ◽

Global Financial Crisis ◽

Exchange Rate Regime ◽

Aggregate Demand ◽

Economic Effects ◽

Theoretical Concepts ◽

Empirical Estimates

Is the Bank of Russia able to control inflation and, at the same time, manage aggregate demand using its interest rate instruments? In other words, are empirical estimates of the effects of monetary policy in Russia consistent with the theoretical concepts and experience of advanced economies? This paper is aimed at addressing these issues. Unlike previous research, we employ “big data” — a large dataset of macroeconomic and financial data — to estimate the effects of monetary policy in Russia. We focus exclusively on the period after the 2008—2009 global financial crisis when the Bank of Russia announced the abandoning of its fixed ruble exchange rate regime and started to gradually transit to an interest rate management. Our estimation results do not confirm standard responses of key economic activity and price variables to tightening of monetary policy. Specifically, our estimates do not reveal a statistically significant restraining effect of the Bank of Russia’s policy of high interest rates on inflation in recent years. At the same time, we find a significant deteriorating effect of the monetary tightening on economic activity indicators: according to our conservative estimates, each of the key rate increases occurred in March and December 2014 had led to a decrease in the industrial production index by about 0.2 percentage points within a year.

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Inclusive Growth with Zakat

The Pakistan Development Review ◽

10.30541/v54i4i-iipp.997-1010 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 54 (4I-II) ◽

pp. 997-1010

Author(s):

Muhammad Mazhar Iqbal

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

Aggregate Demand ◽

Economic Consequences ◽

Poor People ◽

Kuznets Curve ◽

Inclusive Growth ◽

Marginal Productivity ◽

The Social

Zakat is an annual religious levy that is collected from rich Muslims and its proceeds are disbursed among poor people of the society. It has many spiritual and social merits. For example, it purifies the hearts of zakat-givers as they give away a part of their wealth, one of the most precious things in their lives, seeking the pleasure of God without requiring any worldly gains whatsoever. It bridges the social gap between „haves‟ and „have-nots.‟ This study analyses, however, only economic consequences of Zakat for economic growth. They cannot be appreciated duly unless one understands the following concepts of modern economics; various theories of consumption, aggregate demand, stagnation thesis, consumption puzzle, marginal productivity of capital and Kuznets curve.

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