Essays in Behavioral Macroeconomics and Finance

This thesis explores how personal experiences influence individuals’ beliefs about the macroeconomy and their economic decisions. Chapter 1 uses US household survey data to show that personally experiencing a rejection in a credit application leads to increased pessimism about aggregate credit marke...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Cenzon, Josefina
Tipo de recurso: tesis doctoral
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:CBUC, CESCA
Repositorio:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red
OAI Identifier:oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/691967
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10803/691967
Access Level:acceso embargado
Palabra clave:Macroeconomy
Economic desicions
Macroeconomía
Decisiones económicas
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Descripción
Sumario:This thesis explores how personal experiences influence individuals’ beliefs about the macroeconomy and their economic decisions. Chapter 1 uses US household survey data to show that personally experiencing a rejection in a credit application leads to increased pessimism about aggregate credit markets, inflation, unemployment, and stock prices, suggesting significant spillover effects from individual experiences into domain and non-domain specific expectations. Chapter 2 investigates the origin of this pessimism through an associative memory model, which is then integrated into a consumption-saving framework to examine its economic implications. The findings indicate that the rejection-induced pessimismdistorts consumption choices, especially among younger and lower socio-economic groups, and during economic downturns, thereby amplifying contractions in aggregate demand. Chapter 3 examines the impact of past inflation experiences on households’ mortgage choices across the Eurozone, revealing that individuals who have lived through periods of higher and more volatile inflation are less likely to choose fixed-rate mortgages over adjustable-rate mortgages.