Liquidity Constraints and Intertemporal Consumer Optimization: Theory and Evidence From Durable Goods

Abstract

This paper develops and tests the implications of optimal consumption behavior with borrowing constraints. The theory shows that liquidity constraints imply a distinctive intertemporal relationship between durable and nondurable goods consumption. Binding liquidity constraints appear as part of an error correction term derived from the long-run cointegrating relationship between durables and nondurables. When liquidity constraints are binding, the error correction term will have predictive power for the future change in nondurable consumption. Empirical tests of the implications using aggregate data support the hypothesis that liquidity constraints, rather than rule-of-thumb behavior, best explain the excess sensitivity of consumption to predictable changes in income. Copyright 1995 by Ohio State University Press.