MPC Heterogeneity in Europe : Sources and Policy Implications

This paper studies household financial choices in four euro area countries. The goal of the analysis is to understand the sources of the differences in these choices and their implications for the impact of monetary policy on consumption. The estimation of key parameters uses a simulated method of moments approach to match moments related to asset market participation rates, portfolio shares and wealth to income ratios by education and country. The policy functions based upon the estimation are used to characterize the distributions of the marginal propensity to consume across households for each of the four countries. Due to this heterogeneity in consumption responses, monetary policy, operating through its effects on household income and asset market returns, has a differential impact on individuals within and across countries. Generally, poor households respond more to the income variations produced by monetary policy innovations while rich households respond more to policy-induced variations in stock returns. Finally, monetary contractions have a larger impact on consumption in Germany and France while expansions have a larger impact in Italy and Spain