Wealth Effect and Recessions
Wealth Effect
“The ‘wealth effect’ is the notion that when households become richer as a result of a rise in asset values, such as corporate stock prices or home values, they spend more and stimulate the broader economy.”
It also has the opposite effect, when wealth declines, people spend less.
Interest rates
When central banks increase interest rates, making credit more expensive, people borrow less to buy financial and real assets, and those assets start to decline in price.
As stock, crypto, and real asset prices fall, peoples’ net worth decline as well. This decrease in net worth, makes people feel less wealthy, so they spend less. Plus, this drops the value of their collateral that they would secure with future debt.
Banks naturally want collateral and income to assure them that the borrower will pay them back. When that collateral declines in value, borrowers are less credit-worthy, therefore the bank won't lend them as much money.
This slows peoples’ spending also, because most people use credit to buy things in an expansion. And since one person's spending is another person's income, income begins to decline.
Less Income, Collateral...and more Unemployment
Now those same people have less income, and less collateral, then their collateral value falls under the value of their debt. Now they don't even have the collateral nor the income to service or pay for their debt.
At this point, the bank’s income (interest payment) and asset (collection of the debt) must be reduced in value. And since banks are the primary lenders of credit, they start to lend less, because a lot of the money they thought they had, now does not exist, because they're not being paid back.
Banks become hesitant to lend even more money out, or they raise interest rates because there's more risk. Companies cannot borrow as much money to fund their daily operations or pay salaries, so they make less stuff and lay people off.
Unemployment rises, people become more scared, they spend even less, which further declines the economy into a recession.
Save and Pay off Debt.
Save as much cash as you can and don’t buy assets until interest rates stop increasing or begin to drop.
Oh yeah, pay off your debt. A house is the only exception to that, but it's helpful if you pay that off too, before asset prices decline.
Stay frosty and solvent people.
35% allocated to ph-fund.
Greetings @fijimermaid 💞😊
This is indeed a golden advice everyone should take seriously.
Thanks for sharing this great post with love from @hardaeborla and I hope you have a great day ahead 💞😊
Thanks @hardaeborla :)
Hello @fijimermaid, your last tips are very important.
In times of economic recession, it is best to keep debts away or controlled, reduce expenses and pay only what is strictly necessary, these are the keys to economic survival that should be adopted at least.
I should have added that it's important to have an emergency fund and little to no debt before a recession…because once a recession gets here, it's probably too late.
I agree with you about the wealth effect. People definitely spend more when their wealth increases, and spend less when their wealth declines. And the results of declining wealth you broke down in details. Nice publication.
Thank you @greatideas.
I think the wealth effect has been underestimated. Governments specifically use the wealth effect, by making credit less expensive, to boost the economy.
There is also a hope by monetary and fiscal policy makers that by making credit less expensive, thereby increasing economic activity, so incomes rise…people and governments would put themselves in a better financial position, which doesn't happen in most cases, because debts most of the time increase faster than incomes.
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Thank you @alokkumar121.
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