期刊名称：Euro Area Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Statistics
印刷版ISSN：1830-3420
电子版ISSN：1830-3439
出版年度：2016
出版社：European Central Bank
摘要：We study how unemployment affects the over-indebtedness of households using the new EuropeanHousehold Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS). First, we assess the role of different labor market statuses(i.e. employed, unemployed, disabled, retired, etc.) and other household characteristics (i.e. demographics, housingstatus, household wealth and income, etc.) to determine the likelihood of over-indebtedness. We explore theserelationships both at the Euro area level and through country-specific regressions. This approach captures countryspecificinstitutional effects concerning all the different factors which can explain household indebtedness in itsmost severe form. We also examine the role that each country’s legal and economic institutions play in explainingthese differences. The results of the regressions across all countries show that the odds of being over-indebted aremuch higher in households where the reference person is unemployed. These odds ratios remain fairly stable acrossdifferent over-indebtedness indicators and specifications. Interestingly, we find similar results for secured debtonly. Turning to country specific results, the role of unemployment varies widely across countries. In Spain, Franceor Portugal, for example, the odds ratio for the unemployed group is just below 2, whereas in Austria, Belgium, orItaly the odds ratio is higher than 4. Secondly, we situate the analysis in a macro-micro frame to identify householdsand countries that are especially vulnerable to adverse macroeconomic shocks in the labor market. For the Euroarea, we find that the percentage of households plagued by over-indebtedness increased by more than 10%,suggesting that another unemployment shock could have a major impact on the financial solvency of Euro areahouseholds. Finally, the impact of this shock on single-headed households is much higher than on coupleheadedones.
