|
|
Article: Household debt and consumer spending.
- Article from:
- Business Economics
- Article date:
- July 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 The National Association for Business Economists. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
A concern often expressed by policymakers and analysts in recent years is that rising levels of consumer debt may restrain future spending by households and slow the U.S. economy.(1) They point to increases in delinquency rates on consumer loans, record numbers of bankruptcy filings, and an increasing share of income devoted to paying interest on debt as signs that some households have become overextended. But because changes in these indicators often are concentrated among a small proportion of households, other observers doubt whether these indicators reflect the debt burden faced by the "average consumer" and disagree about the extent to which these indicators are useful ...