Consumption smoothing or consumption binging? The effects of government-led consumer credit expansion in Brazil

Brazil initiated a major credit expansion program through government banks in 2011. The program primarily targeted public sector workers with offers of payroll-backed loans. Using individual-level administrative data we find that the program led to a 15 percentage point rise in debt to initial income for public sector workers. We develop a new method for estimating workers' expected income growth, and show that “consumption smoothing” cannot explain the rise in consumer borrowing. Instead, the evidence supports “consumption binging”: less financially sophisticated workers borrowed more at high real interest rates, and experienced both higher consumption volatility and lower average consumption.