Economic Perspectives

Household Inequality and the Consumption Response to Aggregate Real Shocks

Gene Amromin, Mariacristina De Nardi and Karl Schulze

What role did household inequality play in the significant drop in consumption that occurred during the Great Recession? And how has it affected the pace of recovery? The share of borrowing-constrained households increased dramatically during the financial crisis and remained high at least until 2012.

What Explains the Decline in Life Insurance Ownership?

Daniel Hartley, Anna Paulson and Katerina Powers

Why are fewer people buying life insurance? If people in 2013 behaved the same way they did in 1989, life insurance ownership would have increased. Article analyzes changes in socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and diversity in life insurance ownership across education, income, and race/ethnic groups.

Blockchain Financial Market Innovation

Rebecca Lewis, John McPartland, and Rajeev Ranjan

What is blockchain? This technology allows the creation of immutable records of transactions accessible by all participants in a peer-to-peer network without a trusted third party, such as a government agency or financial institution.

Mexico’s Growing Role in the Auto Industry Under NAFTA: Who Makes What and What Goes Where

Thomas H. Klier and James Rubenstein

This article explores how, under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mexico has become an integral part of North America’s motor vehicle industry. The authors track the dramatic increase in Mexico’s auto production and exports over the past 20-plus years and also explain which automakers make which types of vehicles across Mexico and where they are shipped.