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The Review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 103 No. 5 2021

Interest Rate Pass-Through and Consumption Response: The Deposit Channel

Sumit Agarwal1; Souphala Chomsisengphet2; Yildiray Yildirim3; Jian Zhang4

1 National University of Singapore · 2 Office of the Comptroller of the Currency · 3 City University of New York · 4 University of Hong Kong

Abstract

This study assesses a new mechanism, the deposit channel, in the transmission of interest rate shock to household consumption using an administrative panel data set of financial transactions for Turkey. Our empirical strategy exploits variation in consumers' adherence to the Islamic laws that forbid earning interest and employs a standard difference-in-difference design. Following an unanticipated announcement of interest rate hike, rate-sensitive consumers significantly reduce their overall spending, and the response persists throughout the post-announcement period. The response of debt payment, disparate exposure to inflation, exchange rate, and the demographic difference can hardly fully account for the documented consumption response heterogeneity.

DOI
10.1162/rest_a_00941
Volume
103
Issue
5
Pages
922-938
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref

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