Consumo no Brasil: Comportamento otimizador, restrição de crédito ou miopia?

Abstract

This paper analyzes the evolution of Brazilian consumption taking into account three different theories: optimization behavior, myopia and credit constraint. The econometric results suggest that interest rates are irrelevant, which goes against what is predicted by the optimization behavior hypothesis. On the other side, the results are not able to confirm neither myopia nor credit constraint. In spite of that, it is possible to observe that, in some years, consumption is smoothed because its growth rate and the income growth rate have opposite signs. Thus, this fact is incompatible with the myopic behavior.