Abstract
We use novel quarterly data of U.S. states to examine the dynamics of relative spending multipliers in the decade surrounding the Great Recession. While multipliers were around 1 in expansions, they reached values above 4 when a state was in a recession. Also a high (low) degree of household indebtedness augmented (lowered) a state's multiplier by 0.5 in expansions and 2 in recessions. We further document modest positive spillover effects across states and show that a mere redistribution of spending across states also had a significant influence on the aggregate U.S. economy due to cross-state heterogeneity of the effects.
© 2019 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2019
The President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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