How household consumption has changed after an economic crisis

Abstract

This work analyzes the economic impact of an economic crisis on consumption in Spanish households, detecting inequalities in household consumption according to the age of the main breadwinner and changes in consumption patterns. In particular, the effects of the financial crisis of 2008 on household consumption are studied and divided according to the main breadwinner’s age group to obtain the economic impact of the fall in consumption in young households. The input–output tables of the Spanish economy during the years 2005 and 2015 and data on household consumption based on age group have been used. In order to homogenize data from the tables with the consumption data, it has been necessary to build a conversion matrix that relates consumer groups to the sectors of activity. The result obtained allows us to conduct a comparative analysis of the economic situation of the population under study before and after a period of economic crisis and discover the economic impact of the fall in consumption in young households.