A key feature of the model’s transition is the prolonged increase in household debt accompanied
by high interest rates. This positive comovement reflects the effects of the borrowing
shock triggered by allowing previously equity constrained households to cash out part of their
equity. The distributional counterparts of this process are the long-run increase in the saver’s
share of wealth (reflecting the borrower’s rising debt), and the non-monotonic behavior of
the saver’s share of durable goods. This share declines first, and only later it increases to
a higher level than the initial one. More debt allows the relatively impatient households to
increase their share of durable goods during the first stage of the transition. Due to the
mounting debt, however, the borrower’s share of durable goods should eventually decline.