The Debt‐Payment‐to‐Income Ratio as an Indicator of Borrowing Constraints: Evidence from Two Household Surveys

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking
Year: 2010
Volume: 42
Issue: 7
Pages: 1373-1390

Authors (2)

KATHLEEN W. JOHNSON (not in RePEc) GENG LI (Federal Reserve Board (Board o...)

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Liquidity constraints have been proposed as an important explanation for deviations from the rational expectations/permanent income hypothesis. This paper introduces to the liquidity constraint literature the ratio of a household's debt payments to its disposable personal income, the debt service ratio (DSR). We find that a household with a high DSR is significantly more likely to be turned down for credit than other households. Also, the consumption growth of likely constrained households, identified using the DSR along with the liquid‐asset‐to‐income ratio, is significantly more sensitive to past income than that of other households, confirming the DSR's value in identifying constrained households.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:wly:jmoncb:v:42:y:2010:i:7:p:1373-1390
Journal Field
Macro
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25