This paper studies the evolution of the consumption of durables in Brazil and tests the hypothesis of liquidity-constraints for the optimal decision of the representative agent. We also test whether consumption decisions on durable and non-durables are separable, which is critical in understanding consumption behavior and is assumed rather than tested in all previous papers investigating consumption in Brazil. Our empirical results suggest that a large proportion of consumers in Brazil face short-run liquidity constraints in the consumption of durables. We also find short-term restrictions involving the behavior of the consumption of non-durable goods, durable goods, and real income.
