Consumer Credit, Oil Prices, and the U.S. Economy

Arora, Vipin (2015): Consumer Credit, Oil Prices, and the U.S. Economy.

Abstract

Have you paid cash to fill up your gas tank lately? Probably not—and I argue this is one reason why the U.S. economy appears to have become less sensitive to changes in the price of oil. When gas prices rise drivers have increasingly been able to borrow—and firms able to offer incentives—making immediate reductions in the purchases of groceries, electronics, cars, and other goods smaller than in the past. This alters the relationship between oil prices and U.S. economic activity, but does not eliminate it—the money must be paid back after all.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: oil price, economic activity, credit, consumption
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C0 - General > C00 - General; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E2 - Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy > E20 - General; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E5 - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit > E51 - Money Supply ; Credit ; Money Multipliers; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E6 - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook > E60 - General; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q4 - Energy > Q43 - Energy and the Macroeconomy

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