The authors use a new panel data set of credit card accounts to analyze how consumers responded to the 2001 federal income tax rebates. They estimate the monthly response of credit card payments, spending, and debt, exploiting the unique, randomized timing of the rebate disbursement. They find...

In response to growing interest in household finance, this collection of essays with a foreword by John Y. Campbell, studies household and consumer use of credit instruments. It shows how individual consumers and households utilize various credit alternatives in managing their consumption and...