Changes in the Economic Behaviour of Czech Households in the Years of Economic Crisis and Pandemic

Abstract

In the period following 2000, the Czech economy went through two crises, which were different in their causes, durations and consequences. The 2009–2013 crisis resulted from the global financial and fiscal crisis. Its causes were external and purely economic, and its impact on households' economic behaviour was 'standard' – a gradual and moderate reduction in consumption and investment with high unemployment and low inflation rates. The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 meant a sudden and unexpected change in economic conditions – the closure of shops and services, restricted population movements, and household consumption limited to only the most essential products. A reduction in household consumption generally means an increase in household savings if all other circumstances are equal. The aim of the present paper is to show, using the methods of time series analysis, the effects of these two crisis periods in terms of data for the household sector or to show whether the fall in the propensity to consume and the rise in the propensity to save in 2020–2021 can be considered statistically significant compared to the crisis period of 2009–2013. Publicly available data from the Czech Statistical Office have been used for our analysis.

Keywords

• national accounts
• households
• final consumption expenditure
• gross saving
• time series analysis
• time series stability tests