Heterogeneous Responses and Aggregate Impact of the 2001 Income Tax Rebates

This paper estimates the heterogeneous responses to the 2001 income tax rebates across endogenously determined groups of American households. Around 45% of the sample saved the entire value of the rebate. Another 20%, with low income and liquid wealth, spent a significant amount. The largest propensity to consume, however, was associated with the remaining 35% of households, with higher income or liquid wealth. The estimated heterogeneity implies that the tax rebates added a 3.27% to aggregate non-durable consumption expenditure in the second half of 2001. The estimates of the homogeneous response model, in contrast, predict a 5.05% increase.