2022 Annual Conference

risk tolerance, marital status, gender

Some researchers believe that marital status is a relevant data point in the financial decision-making process. Others argue that marital status is not particularly relevant. Very few studies have been undertaken to provide evidence in support of either position. Instead, much of the literature uses marital status as a control variable (i.e., a covariate) in analyses developed to test other research questions. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap in the literature by specifically evaluating the association between financial risk tolerance and categories of marital status. If marital status is a relevant financial management characteristic one should expect to see categories of marital status significantly associated with risk tolerance even after controlling for other individual and household characteristics.

risk tolerance, overconfidence, estimation bias, calibration of risk tolerance, miscalibration

The purpose of this study was to determine how well investors are able to estimate their financial risk tolerance and to determine if categories of financial risk-tolerance miscalibration are associated with investment risk taking. Using data from a panel study of 408 investors, it was determined that 22% of study participants underestimated their risk tolerance, whereas 28% overestimated their risk tolerance. It was further ascertained that those who exhibited an overestimation bias held more equites in their portfolios in comparison to those who either underestimated or accurately estimated their willingness to take financial risk. Household income, wealth status, and education were also found to be predictors of future equity holdings.

Food waste, Experimental study, Food consumers, Probit regression, Poisson regression

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effective ways to reduce food wastes. We designed the experiment to present four types of treatments to reduce food wastes and estimated the effect of the treatments on the chance of fewer food wastes. We would suggest the relevant policy to decrease food wastes in restaurants by discouraging consumers to choose more foods to be thrown away

Covid-19; Stimulus-Organism-Response Model; Food Consumption; Alcohol; Soda; Healthy Food; Consumer Well-Being 

The purpose of the study is to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food consumption patterns. Particularly, drawing on the stimulus-organism (S-O-R) model, we aim to investigate how 1) consumers' perceived impact of COVID-19 in different life aspects (e.g., financial situation and health condition) and 2) consumers' future expectation toward the COVID-19 effect (e.g., getting worse or better) mediate the relationship between a general psychological state (i.e., locus of control) and food consumption patterns during the COVID-19 crisis. Our findings revealed that those who perceived severe COVID-19 impact more shifted toward unhealthy food consumption patterns (e.g., alcohol and soda) during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, results showed that the consumption of healthy foods is not significantly driven by the pandemic situation. Further, the findings suggest that consumers with an external locus of control (i.e., blame external environments) are more likely to perceive the COVID-19 impact more severe, which increases the consumption of alcohol and soda.

Annuity puzzle, annuity income product(s), variable annuity (self-annuitization), immediate life annuity (annuitization), annuity decision-making, investment risk, longevity risk, retirement satisfaction

Reticence among retirees to protect themselves against longevity risk is an annuity puzzle that has been the subject of vigorous academic debate. As a standard practice, retirement capital is converted into either an immediate life annuity (annuitization), affording significant protection against longevity risk, or a variable annuity (self-annuitization), exposing capital to volatile investment returns. This work presents a number of exploratory factors (based on annuity puzzle literature) that associate with retirees’ satisfaction levels, with respect to the eventual outcome of their annuity choice. The most interesting conclusion is that, although one would expect active involvement in managing retirement capital among variable annuitants to contribute to satisfaction levels, according to the multiple regression results the desire to control and manage variable annuity capital in the pursuance of capital growth, actually significantly contributes to retiree discontentment/dissatisfaction. Financial education and counseling with respect to optimal annuity decision-making could restore the promise of retirement income security.

Retirement plan participation, retirement savings, automatic enrollment, employer contributions, millennials

Why aren't some Millennials participating in employer retirement plans? This study seeks to answer this question empirically from the perspectives of automatic enrollment and employer contributions. The analyses draw data from the 2018 U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's Millennial Investment Study. Controlling for several factors, including total debt, household income, risk tolerance, and investable assets, the findings from this study reinforce the fact that automatic enrollment and employer-contribution provisions matter. More specifically, the results show that some Millennials may not participate in employer retirement plans because their employers do not either auto-enroll employees or provide a match/straight contribution. Others who are less likely to join an employer retirement plan include those unsure about the availability of auto-enrollment or employer contributions. The findings have implications for employer retirement plan designs and communication effectiveness.

HouseholdAssetAllocarion, Annuity, Unemployment, LaborIncomeRisk

When studying households' asset allocation decisions over equities, fixed income assets, and annuities, it is important to incorporate the uninsurable labor income risk. This study combines individual household data with the aggregative industry unemployment data to explore how the relationship between households' annuity ownership and their stock market participation depending on the labor income risk associated with their job industries. Results indicate that the industry-related unemployment rate is more of a barrier to investing in the stock market for non-annuity owners.

bankruptcy, financial capability, insolvency, student loan

Student loans are distinctively different from other types of debt. These loans are usually borrowed for education purposes. If borrowed for self or spouse’s education, the loan is essentially an investment in their own human capital and social capital, with the expectation that such investment would bring monetary returns to the family through differentials in future earnings and financial decision-making. Nevertheless, if the student loan is borrowed for others' education, this loan is essentially not different from other tyeps of debt in that the beneficiary's education does not improve the family's future earnings or financial capabilities. Completing the education funded by the student loan also makes a difference in the family's balance sheet in that the current education level may or may not be related to the student loan that was intended to bring returns from such an investement. Recognizing these differences, this study uses the 2016 and 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances to examine the association between financial capability and insolvency, an informal bankruptcy, among both tyoes of student loan holders and non-holders. Results show that financial capability has mixed relationships with insolvency among three subsamples. Findings provide policy and practical implications. 

risk, equity percentage, Baysian Model Averaging

The impact that demographic and socioeconomic variables have on equity percentage, after risk preferences have been netted out, are analyzed using portfolio data from defined contribution (DC) plans. First, we regress DC equity percentage on investor risk preferences in order to obtain surrogate residuals. Second, we use a Bayesian Model Averaging approach to analyze the association between demographic variables and those surrogate residuals. Using cross-sectional data from Morningstar Associates that span the Great Recession, we find that age and the use of an allocation fund (e.g. target-date fund) are negatively associated with DC equity percentage. In addition, we find that the level of the S&P 500, DC deferral (savings) rate and salary are all positively associated with DC equity percentage.

Retirement Saving, Auto-Enrollment, Behavior Nudging, 401(k) Matching Rules, Saving Disparity

This study investigates the impacts and interactions of two primary defined contribution plan design features, default savings rate and match rate, using an administrative data set of approximately 157,000 participants who recently enrolled in an employer-matched 401(k) plan. The research results indicate that selecting a higher default rate has the largest impact on employee savings rates. Plans with low default rates that match a high percentage of employee earnings induce higher-income participants to actively move away from the low default savings rate, resulting in a wider savings gap between higher- and lower-income employees. When employees are defaulted at a higher rate, fewer move away from the default savings rate resulting in higher and more equal savings rates among employees.

Account Standards, Transaction Account, Financial Access, Financial Inclusion, Unbanked, Underbanked

Increasing the fully banked population is related to the availability of affordable bank accounts. This study investigates the factors that are associated with bank response to voluntary national bank account standards for an affordable transaction account. We also examine the degree to which account information is available from bank websites. Account feature data were collected from public bank websites and bank tellers (N=108) in a mid-western metropolitan area. Results suggest that most banks offer an account that meets the majority of the standards. On average, bank websites are missing information about eight (44%) of the voluntary standards. There is weak evidence to suggest that bank asset size is associated both with the number of standards met and the numbers of standards about which a viewer cannot assess from information on their website. Practice and policy implications of the voluntary standards on the availability of affordable transaction accounts are discussed, and research recommendations are included.

Financial inclusion, people with disabilities, unbanked, alternative financial services, nonbank transaction products, FDIC 2019 FDIC Survey of Household Use of Banking and Financial Services

The objective of this study is to ascertain the nature of economic exclusion for individuals with disabilities. Data from the 2019 FDIC Survey of Household Use of Banking and Financial Services is used to investigate the differences in measures of financial exclusion between people with different types of disabilities (e.g., physical, cognitive, psychological) and those without disabilities. Respondents with cognitive or multiple impairments are more likely to be unbanked, use nonbank transaction products, and use alternative financial services (AFS) than people without disabilities. Compared to respondents without disabilities, respondents with physical, cognitive, or multiple impairments are more likely to be discouraged from applying for credit and those with hearing or cognitive impairments are more likely to be denied or not given as much credit as requested. Further research is necessary to understand the reason for these differences, identify remedies to financial exclusions  for those with different disabilities, and ultimately enhance their overall economic well-being.

Overconfidence, COVID-19, correlation neglect, mask wearning, vaccination, risk

A series of experimental studies shed light on the impact of overconfidence on a person’s attitude toward COVID-19, fear of the novel coronavirus, the support of mask mandates, the likelihood of wearing face masks in crowded indoor spaces, being fully vaccinated, utilizing contact tracing apps, and following mandatory quarantine rules by analyzing randomised controlled trials data from 600 international panellists. Building on the theory of correlation neglect, we show that respondents who are overconfident in their knowledge about infectious diseases illustrate a laxer attitude toward the current outbreak. The study provides evidence to help inform public health officials to focus on a subpopulation who would benefit from a nudge to follow official COVID-19 guidance and regulations.

online grocery shopping, health, pandemic risk, household production, multinomial logit

Online Grocery Shopping (OGS) has grown dramatically during the novel-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It is unknown, however, whether the growth is driven by situational factors related to the pandemic or more permanent changes to consumer preferences and behaviors. We collect and analyze survey data to examine how consumers with different health and socio-demographic profiles weigh these factors and choose the time of adoption of online grocery shopping in the pandemic. Our findings shed light on the development of technology-assisted adaptation to future public health crises.

Job loss, unemployment, unbanked, bank account ownership, Current Population Survey

We estimate the effect of job loss on households’ bank account ownership using novel data – the FDIC Surveys of Household Use of Banking and Financial Services (BFS) administered biennially in June between 2011 and 2019, linked to information on the dynamics of respondents’ labor force participation in surrounding months constructed from the Basic Monthly Current Population Survey (CPS). We leverage differences in the timing of unemployment spells across respondents to plausibly identify the effect of job loss. Our results indicate the effects of job loss are quite large in magnitude. For example, households that experienced a job loss in the months leading up to the June BFS are about 18 percentage points more likely to be “unbanked” than households that lost a job in the subsequent year. This effect is roughly three-quarters of the sample mean unbanked rate among the lower-income renter households that we study. We find that job loss also leads to increased use of other transaction products and services that might substitute for a bank account, including prepaid cards, check cashing, and money orders.

food waste, households, knowledge, behavioral and psychological determinants

Food waste is an important societal problem to address. The role of consumers regarding food waste is not negligible and the study of their behaviour in this area is essential. To conduct research on this topic, it is important to have a measure of food waste that reflects what the consumer is actually wasting and what influence the knowledge of what constitutes food waste. The purpose of this presentation is to document the determinants of the knowledge of households on what behaviors constitute food waste. Thus, a sample of 1,061 people were asked to indicate, among 23 behaviors constituting food waste, whether each behaviour does, or does not, constitute food waste. The results of this study lead to a discussion on ways to improve consumers’ knowledge on what behaviors constitute food waste.

Retirement withdrawal, Financial well-being, the CARES act, SHED

The purpose of this study was to determine if the CARES Act, which allowed for penalty-free withdrawals from retirement funds during the COVID-19 epidemic, was connected with the subjective financial well-being of eligible American families. The July 2020 supplement to the 2019 Survey of Household Economics and Decision-making (SHED) was used in this research. The findings reveal that qualifying for the CARES Act was substantially related to respondents under the age of 59.5 withdrawing from retirement funds. On the other hand, withdrawals from retirement savings accounts were inversely associated with respondents' subjective financial well-being.

financial literacy, financial education, inflation, disinflation

Understanding and managing price and wage inflation is an important financial skill and has been identified as one of the “big three” economic concepts that individuals should understand to support sound financial decision-making (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2011). Since the 1980s, inflation in the U.S. has been mostly on the decline – what is referred to as disinflation – until recent months (McFee, 2021. Economists, Central Bankers, and financial professionals have divergent expectations on inflation for the near future, but many see beyond transitory inflation to more prolonged structural inflation (Scholtes, 2021). This recent and upcoming changes in inflation begs the research questions, “What is the state of knowledge about inflation in the U.S., how it is taught, and are schools and institutions educating its citizenry adequately to prepare for and respond to a change in inflation regime?”

Pandemic, Financial Resiliency, Financial Capability, Financial Well-being

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic led to substantial volatility in household finances in 2020 and continues to contribute to the physical, mental, and financial suffering for many households. The preliminary findings emerging from this period have revealed that people from low to moderate-income communities and economically disadvantaged backgrounds, including people of color, people from immigrant communities and lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and people with disabilities, were disproportionately affected by the pandemic (Clark et al., 2020; Laster Pirtle, 2020; Yancy, 2020). In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a fear that the disproportionate harm and despair among the economically disadvantaged and marginalized communities will further widen the country's socioeconomic and health disparities (Thomeer et al., 2020). As the vaccination rollout continues to gather steam in 2021, the economy's recovery process is expected to gain momentum. The proposed project is (1) to investigate the health and financial impacts of the pandemic on low to moderate-income families and people of color; (2) to identify specific strategies to support recovery and asset building for different communities and (3) to provide implications for practitioners, researchers, and policymakers.

parental financial support, emerging adulthood, pandemic, financial well-being, thriving

For emerging adults, the effects of the pandemic may be particularly disruptive, as they transition from dependence on family to independent adult functioning (Arnett, 2014). Even before the pandemic, a changing and uncertain economy saw many emerging adults relying on parents for continued economic and emotional support (Cobb-Clark & Ribar, 2012; Fingerman et al., 2016). The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of family support to emerging adults (both financial and emotional) weathering a pandemic. We posit that positive family support provides a “safe haven” for weathering the disruptions to life due to the pandemic, conceptualized as the impact of COVID-19 on three aspects of emerging adults’ daily life (financial, resource, and psychological). We conceptualized emerging adult thriving as multiple domains of wellbeing (current and future finances, positivity, psychological) and two types of family support: emotional and financial support. Results showed that the negative impacts of COVID-19 in all three dimensions predicted lower levels of emerging adults’ psychological wellbeing, financial wellbeing, and positivity; family emotional support was positively related to wellbeing and positivity; however, family financial support led to lower levels of all outcome variables.

employment,financial toxicity,female cancer survivors

This study investigates the association between employment and financial toxicity among women cancer survivors. The outcome of interest was financial toxicity, which was estimated using the Comprehensive Score for Financial Toxicity (CoST), a continuous measure of the underlying factors associated with financial toxicity. Lower CoST scores represent a greater degree of affectedness. Data has been collected from the cancer patient survivors in the 22 counties served by the University of Florida Health Cancer Center. It was found that employment served as a predictor of higher CoST score and lower financial toxicity (p<0.007) Women diagnosed with breast cancer were more likely to experience financial toxicity when compared to other cancer diagnoses (p<0.066)

COVID-19 Pandemic, Gender, Remote Working, Shopping Motivations

The closures of workplaces and schools during COVID-19 pandemic have added some remote working experiences and stress for professionals. Reports indicated that consumers shop more online during their work hours in workdays. However, the influence of the remote working stress was still understudied. Therefore, by using teachers as study participants, the purpose of this study was to examine how stress during remote working will influence people’s productivity and shopping motivation. Research results indicated that during remote working, women have higher gratification shopping, value shopping, social shopping, and adventure shopping; participants with lower (vs higher) remote working stress have lower gratification shopping, value shopping, social shopping, idea shopping, and adventure shopping motivations. The study results indicated that the added stress by remote working have increased the pressure to consume as a stress reliever. To help improve consumers’ well-being and relieve remote working stress employers who adopt remote working can offer wellness training that includes how to relieve the stress in financially responsible ways and offer online games or other non-financial ways for remote workers to take breaks that don’t include shopping.

COVID-19, household income, stimulus, food insecurity

A year and a half after COVID-19 first emerged in the United States in early 2020, the pandemic continued to impact businesses, schools, families, and social structures around the world. COVID-19 brought devastating financial issues for many families, as many parents faced unemployment or a reduction in hours worked. In line with ACCI’s mission of enhancing consumer and family economic well-being, the purpose of this current descriptive study was to examine differences in food insecurity among {State} families with children based on household income level and stimulus receipt during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cronbach’s alpha, internal consistency, financial risk tolerance, omega, reliability

Over the past two decades, numerous scaling and attitudinal measurement techniques have been developed to facilitate the assessment of consumer risk tolerance. Cronbach’s alpha has traditionally been used as the primary measure of scale reliability for assessment tools that have been developed using psychometric theory. Recently, however, psychometricians have raised concerns about the ongoing use of Cronbach’s alpha as a robust measure of scale reliability. In its place, some have argued that reliability estimates should be based on Greatest Lower Bound (GLB) and omega estimations. The purpose of this paper is to describe and compare these alternative reliability measures, in comparison to Cronbach’s alpha, for a widely used financial risk-tolerance scale. Using a dataset with 179,450 observations, findings from this study suggest that while estimates derived on the basis of Cronbach’s alpha, GLB, and omega differ, for the most part, reliability estimates across the measures are more similar than dissimilar.

health care, mental health, financial well-being, health care costs, covid-19

This study uses the US Census Household Pulse Survey from mid-2020 through 2021 to examine how consumers responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in their consumption of health care, including delaying or foregoing care. Households report sources of income utilized to meet spending needs, such as credit cards, loans, or borrowing from family and intended use of stimulus payments. Importantly, households indicated whether they needed mental health care or medical care for something unrelated to COVID-19 but did not get it. This study finds tax refunds are associated with significant reductions in the delay of mental health care. This research adds to literature regarding care-seeking among financially vulnerable populations.

financial socialization, financial well-being, financial literacy, financial behavior, financial capability

This study examines the relationship between various domains of financial socialization and financial well-being of Korean young adults and the possible mediators underlying this association. Using a unique online survey data of Korean adults aged 25 to 39, we found that financial well-being was significantly higher for those who were financially socialized through interaction with parents and those who learned from observing parental financial behavior. Other agents of financial socialization, including financial socialization through school, media, and interaction with peers, were generally uncorrelated with financial well-being. Lastly, we found that the association between financial well-being and financial socialization through parents was mediated by financial knowledge, financial capability and attitude, and financial behavior. This study adds to the literature by identifying the specific financial socialization agents that lead to higher financial well-being and demonstrating the mediating role of financial knowledge, financial capability and attitude, and financial behavior. Implications for researchers and policymakers are discussed.

Financial well-being, generational difference, financial knowledge, financial skill, financial behavior

The objective of this paper is to examine the differences in financial well-being between existing generations in the context of what we understand about financial knowledge, skill and behavior in four different generations: Pre-Boomer, Boomer, Gen-X, and Millennials. Understanding these differences will help educators, scholars, and policy-makers contribute to the body of knowledge and enhance consumer and family economic well-being.

Financial confidence, financial well-being, financial capability, consumer finance 

This study investigates the relationship between financial confidence and financial well-being (FWB). Financial confidence is measured by the interplay between respondents’ estimation of their own financial knowledge (subjective financial knowledge) and actual survey scores from financial knowledge questions (objective financial knowledge).  This study helps reveal the building blocks needed to generate a more comprehensive understanding of financial confidence and its relationship with financial well-being. Results also have implications for practitioners in financial education and services. When creating financial education programs and interventions, educators and advisors will have a better understanding of not just their clients’ different levels of financial well-being, but also how to solve mismatches between objective and subjective financial knowledge. The knowledge gained from this study may help program designers to better balance elements of knowledge acquisition and elements to foster financial confidence to deliver more effective consumer finance interventions. 

financial planner, race, ethnicity, risk, trust, help-seeking, financial literacy

The use of a financial planner has been shown to be advantageous to one’s economic well-being, but the determinants of who seeks financial help are not well understood. Long-standing and substantial wealth disparities exist between families in different racial and ethnic groups. Similarly, the rate of financial planner usage is strikingly low among Black and Hispanic families. Through the lens of the financial help-seeking framework, we conduct a cross-racial examination of the role trust, financial literacy, and risk measures have on financial planner utilization. This study uses data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances. In a binary logit model, the dependent variable distinguishes respondents who have sought financial help from a professional. In the multinomial regression, the dependent variable has four categories: non-professional, professional, both, and neither source. Results indicate Blacks are less likely than Whites to utilize a professional for investment decisions. We also find Blacks may prefer to seek a source of information as compared to no source at all, but that source has lower odds of being a non-professional when controlling for income and education. Researchers and policymakers should be informed of the role various risk and financial literacy measures play in financial help-seeking behavior.

Cryptocurrency, Financial Advisors, NFCS Investor Survey, Investment

Cryptocurrency investment has emerged as a popular option for those seeking financial investment. It is important for individual investors to understand the potential risks and rewards of cryptocurrency before they choose to invest in it. It also is relevant for financial advisors to understand its appeal and potential impact on their clients. While existing research has studied the cryptocurrency investment, it has not examined the important relationship between cryptocurrency investment and the use of a financial advisor. The current study focuses on that relationship. Human capital theory argues that individuals who leverage the knowledge of a financial advisor will make better financial decisions. Using the 2018 NFCS Investor survey, this paper estimates a probit model to examine the cryptocurrency investment decision of investors. It shows that investors who use a financial advisor are more likely to be invested in cryptocurrency. This implies that financial advisors may be recommending cryptocurrency investment. There are important implications from this study for current and future investment trends that carry significant volatility. As technology improves and humanity progresses, more complex and intriguing investment opportunities will become available and it will be the responsibility of investment professionals, individual investors, and regulators, to appropriately navigate the complexities.

Financial Planner Use, Race, Ethnicity, NFCS, SCF, NLSY79

The previous study shows the financial planner use is associated with variables, such as income, educational attainment, income level, age, financial knowledge, and net worth. Specifically, individuals who have assistance from financial planners have better investment portfolio performance (Lei & Yao, 2016) and keep a long-term investment strategy (Winchester et al., 2011). This study focuses on if the predictors associated with financial planner use among different racial and ethnic groups, descriptively. This essay uses datasets including the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, the 2012 and 2018 National Financial Capability Study, and the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances. The results show that Whites/others and Asians are better off financially when compared to Blacks and Hispanics, all racial groups are still doing better than those who do not have financial planners.

Negative Home Equity, Miltary Households, Financial Behavior, Relocations, Overconfidence Bias, Financial Capability, Financial Literacy, Financial Planning, National Financial Capability Study

The goal of this study is to examine one of the most important vehicles for building wealth in the U.S., home equity, with a particular focus on military households. This focus is based on the premise that military households are required to relocate regularly, roughly every two to three years. Individuals not in the military typically relocate less frequently, about 11.7 times in a lifetime equaling about once every 10 years. The frequency of relocations among military households begs the question of whether recurrent home purchases and sales are associated with reduced housing wealth relative to civilian households. We use data from the National Financial Capability Study to test the following research questions: Do military households have negative home equity at a different rate than civilian households? Which behavioral, demographic, and socioeconomic factors are associated with negative home equity for military and civilian households? This research aligns with ACCI’s mission of enhancing consumer and family economic well-being by highlighting a critical discrepancy between the ability of military households vs civilian households to build wealth through home equity.

homeownership, immigration law, 287(g) agreements, secure communities, assimilation theory

The primary purpose of this study is to explain how county-level immigration law enforcement of 287(g) agreements affect the immigrants’ decision to buy a house. We use differences in differences models to identify associations between the variables selected over time and study the differential effect of the immigration law enforcement in the jurisdictions that implemented the 287(g) agreements compared to those that did not sign the agreements. We calculate the effect of the agreements on immigrant homeownership by comparing the average change over time in the outcome variable for the treatment group compared to the average change over time for the control group.

Economic Policy, Economic Vulnerability, Financial Education, Government Assistance, Student Loan Debt

Using data from the 2018 FINRA Investor Education Foundation’s National Financial Capability Study (NFCS), the purpose of this study was to explore socio-economic differences in four groups of individuals: 1) those who hold no student loans and do not receive government assistance (secure individuals), 2) those who have student loans but are not receiving government assistance (student loaners), 3) those who are receiving government assistance but do not hold student loans (reliant individuals), and 4) those who both have student loans and are receiving government assistance (reliant loaners). Our research questions include what are demographic and individual characteristics of these four groups, what are the predictors of the probability of being in each of these groups, and which group appears to be the most economically vulnerable. We found that while individuals in both the reliant individuals and reliant loaners group are below poverty rates to a degree that qualifies them for government assistance, measures of economic vulnerability were more likely to significantly increase the probability of belonging to the reliant individuals group than to increase the probability of belonging to the reliant loaners group.

digital finance, happiness, financial capability, debt burden, overspending

The empirical research on happiness and digital finance has grown enormously during last decade. However, with the rapid growth of digital finance in China, studies about the relationship between digital finance and happiness remain limited. To fill this gap, this study used data from China Household Financial Survey and Peking University Digital Financial Inclusion Index to examine the association between digital finance and happiness. Results showed that the relationship between digital finance and happiness is negative. Mechanism analyses suggested that digital finance is negatively associated with happiness through the increasing debt burden and overspending behavior. Further heterogeneous analyses found that age, debt level and trust can be moderators in the relationship between digital finance and happiness. The results have policy implications for improving digital finance business and consumer subjective well-being.

Mobile payment, Financial technology, Race and ethnicity, Technology acceptance, Financial knowledge, Technology-related experience, National Financial Capability Study

As mobile payment is the one experiencing innovation continuously in conjunction with the pervasive use of the smartphone, understanding consumers’ behaviors related to mobile payment, specifically who are the user of mobile payment is an important topic of discussion. Previous studies documented the existence of racial/ethnic differences, but there are very limited empirical studies that solely focus on the racial/ethnic gap. Thus, the current study aims to confirm the existence of racial/ethnic differences in mobile payment usage, and second to explore what factors contribute to such racial/ethnic gap. Analyzing the 2018 NFCS study, we found that compared to other groups, Whites tend to use mobile payment less for their shopping at the retail stores. Our results go beyond the previous studies by confirming a strong tendency among Whites even considering the roles of financial knowledge and previous experiences of using technology-related financial services. Findings also indicated that previous experiences in using various mobile financial services significantly contribute to explaining the gap between White–other respective groups and Asian and other respective groups. The findings help to better understand the racial/ethnic differences, and how to tailor market efforts, programs and policies to help consumers use mobile payment in a positive way.

cryptocurrency, financial advice, financial literacy

This study combines practitioner and academic analysis to explore the association between seeking information from financial advisors and investing in cryptocurrency. In addition, we discuss advisor and client sentiment towards cryptocurrency. Our research uses data from the 2018 state-by-state National Financial Capability Study (NFCS) and the 2018 Investor Survey (IS). The NFCS and IS are combined to examine investor literacy, the use of a financial advisor, and which investors buy cryptocurrency. Our findings showed that investors seeking advice from financial advisors had a lower likelihood of investing in cryptocurrency, while those using stockbrokers were more likely to invest in cryptocurrency. In addition, there is an increased interest in cryptocurrency, with a small but growing number of advisors allocating cryptocurrency in client portfolios.

Financial stress, Fintech adoption, Stress and Coping Theory (SCT), NFCS

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 accelerates the growth of the fintech industry. Customers' willingness to experiment with new digital financial services grew dramatically as a consequence of the pandemic, resulting in an acceleration of innovation within the fintech industry. The pandemic has heightened interest in how fintech might serve as a coping and problem-solving strategy for consumers. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationships between characteristics associated with financial stress and the use of mobile financial technologies (or mobile fintech). Three financial stress-related factors were examined using data from the 2018 National Financial Capability Study: financial stress, financial stressors, and perceived over-indebtedness. Mobile financial management, mobile payment, mobile money transfer, and mobile banking are the four key mobile fintech service types explored.

racism, financial hardship, psychological stress, financial stress

The objective of this study is to examine the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the lives of Maryland population as well as minorities and those residing in rural communities in Maryland. This study specifically focuses on the racial differences in terms of health and financial life with a goal of better understanding mental health and financial hardships during the pandemic. The objective of this study is to examine the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the lives of the Maryland population as well as minorities and those residing in rural communities in Maryland. This study specifically focuses on the racial differences in terms of health and financial life with a goal of better understanding mental health and financial hardships during the pandemic. Results show that psychological distress and financial hardship differ by racial and ethnic groups. Further, the financial hardship during Covid-19 and racism trauma among racial/ethnic minorities positively relates to their psychological distress.

older adults, digital finance, mobile banking/payment, China

Inclusive digital financial services should welcome older populations and make them beneficiaries of the digital and financial revolution. We conducted an online survey with 322 older adults who were 60 or above from 15 provinces to understand their engagement in digital finance in the context of China. Descriptive results revealed that older adults were active digital finance users and engaged most with activities that were highly compatible with their lifestyles. However, regression analysis suggested that age-related disparity and an urban-rural gap existed in using digital finance. Additionally, older adults’ perceived usefulness, ease of use, accessibility to a digital device and the Internet, risk perception, and social activities also played a role in their adoption of these advanced tools. Nonusers’ perceived barriers to digital finance use were also investigated. Findings from this study call for an urgent need to develop age-friendly financial products and services that better serve aging populations, as financial institutions and merchants have sped up their digital business under COVID-19. Special attention should be paid to rural older adults and the older-old group to enhance their capability to use digital finance. It also calls for policy regulations to guarantee in-person services as an alternative.

Great Recession, Liquidity, Household Finance, Financial Planning

The purpose of this study is to find whether the level of initial liquidity had an impact on household wealth through the Great Recession of 2008. The study uses the Survey of Consumer Finances panel data from 2007-2009. Incidentally, the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) and NORC conducted the first wave of the Survey of Consumer Finances interviews for 2007 as a triennial cross-section right before the advent of the Great Recession that lasted for 18 months after starting at the end of 2007. After that, the FRB and NORC conducted a series of panel re-interviews between July 2009 and January 2010, presenting a unique opportunity to ascertain the impact of decisions during this time to prepare households for future economic uncertainties. Financial advisers often discuss the importance of emergency savings for clients. The level of liquid assets held relative to debt payments, or income varies substantially across households. This paper estimates the average marginal effects of the recession on the households’ net worth, dividing them into groups based on net worth and level of liquidity and controlling for relevant covariates. The study intends to guide the liquidity needs of families based on findings.

Food insecurity, housing insecurity, material hardship, emotional stability, openness, conscientiousness, personality, big five

Defined as inadequate access to food and housing due to financial constraints, food insecurity and housing insecurity are among the most common material hardships among college students. Personality traits predict financial wellbeing in the general population, yet little is known whether personality is also associated with college students’ material wellbeing. Using a cross-sectional survey from 2019 on 3149 college students at the University of Alabama, we designed a study on the association between the Big-Five personality traits and food and housing insecurities. We fitted binary and ordered logit models, controlling for demographic, financial, and spending characteristics. An estimated 43 percent of the sample experienced food insecurity while 49 percent reported housing insecurity after entering college. Two-thirds of the sample experienced either hardship; 27 percent experienced both. Lower emotional stability and higher openness were associated with greater odds of food insecurity and housing insecurity. Lower conscientiousness was associated with higher odds of food insecurity and any/both insecurities. Spending priorities partially mediated the personality-hardships correlation. Our findings advanced the understanding of determinants of college students’ material wellbeing to the realm of personality. Research on interpersonal differences in material hardships may benefit by factoring in personality.

Low-income Financial Planning, Income Tax, Household Finance

The U.S. income tax system is complex and serves multiple purposes. How individuals interact with and are impacted by the U.S. tax system can have a dramatic impact on both their after-tax income and their wealth accumulation over time. In order to comply with U.S. tax laws, individuals are generally required to file an income tax return. Many households are exempt from filing a federal income tax return because their income is below certain thresholds. However, failure to file an income tax return eliminates some households from receiving government transfers through the tax system, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. This paper examines the income tax filing patterns of households from 2001 to 2019 using the Survey of Consumer Finances. We find that low-income and low-net-worth households are most likely to not file a tax return. Similarly, households that are young, have few or no children, have less education, and other races are also less likely to file a tax return. Many institutions are concerned with financial inclusion and wealth-building among low-income and/or low-wealth households, a key starting focal point in that effort could be helping low-income individuals file their federal income tax returns.

house, home, home equity, planner, advisor, housing value, advisor education, planner education, retirement

The home is a very important part of many clients' finances, as shown here as a high likelihood of clients owning a home. Through home value perceptions and actions, homeowners make savings/spending choices and risk tolerance decisions. While clients largely use home equity to buy another home, some may use home equity funds for various consumption reasons, with some homeowners saving the equity or using it as a financial buffer. These perceptions and choices are largely due to home value estimation by homeowners. Though reverse mortgages and HELOCs have more recently been a choice given to clients, advice throughout a client’s life cycle is proposed by the paper, as it is currently not a normal part of ongoing client advice.

Real Estate, Housing, Rental, Policy, Externalities, Difference-in-Difference, Quasi-experiment, Sports Economics

Although the new construction for single-family rentals doubled in the United States in the past decade and hit a record high in 2020 (Hunter B, Forbes 2020), the question of how neighborhood amenities affect single-family rental prices remains largely unexplored. Past studies on the effect of new sports venues on property values have focused primarily on residential property sales prices (i.e., Tu, 2005; Dehring et al., 2007; Feng and Humphreys, 2018). The investigation of this effect on renters and landlords promises to be a productive and insightful research area. In particular, the Southeast has seen significant growth of the single-family renters market (Immergluck, 2018) and an evident increase in sports facilities investments the past four years - the Atlanta Braves, Falcons, and Hawks invested more than $2.5 billion in construction and renovations (Tucker, 2018). This paper examines the effects of the construction of a sports venue on the rental pricing for the fast-growing single-family renter segment in one of the inner suburbs of Atlanta.

fear of missing out, credit cards, impulse buying, social media

Spending behaviors exhibited during the COVID-19 pandemic have researchers questioning whether consumer behavior has changed. During COVID, society as a whole used social media more than ever before. A survey reported that overall social media consumption increased seven-fold in recent months and suggested that social media use is closely linked to online shopping, including impulsive online shopping. The stress and anxiety associated with COVID-19 has been shown to increase a consumer’s propensity to impulse buy and, during COVID-19, trends showed a sharp increase in spending via credit cards. A framework to explain this effect is related to a personality trait, called "fear of missing out." While the typical contexts for studying the fear of missing out in past research have focused specifically on missing out on important social experiences, fear of missing out has adapted to COVID-19 and reports document that people felt like they were missing out in many more aspects of everyday life. Recent research also points to the unknowns brought on by COVID-19 as reasons for social media use, in order to cope with their fear of missing out.

Mental Health, COVID-19, Older Adults, Health and Retirement Study

Understanding mental health burden of COVID-19 has become a public health research priority and has received greater attention among health researchers, experts, and policy makers. Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this study assesses the effect of income shock on mental health deterioration of Older Americans who are between 50 and 74 years. Specifically, this study answers the following research questions: 1) Does the income shock triggered by the pandemic deteriorate mental health? 2) Does the effect of income shock on mental health deterioration differ among pre-retirement and retirement aged adults? 3) Does the effect of income shock on mental health deterioration differ by income quintile? 4) Does the effect of income shock on mental health deterioration differ by wealth quintile?

Health and Retirement Study, Bequest, Mental Accounting, Fixed Effects, Retirement

Research was conducted to examine the relationship between mentally accounting for a bequest and retirement satisfaction using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Although traditional life-cycle consumption models assume spending down assets at the end of life, this study uses a fixed-effects logit model to identify a significant positive relationship between a retiree mentally accounting for a bequest and the retiree's retirement satisfaction.

retirement status change, social support, life satisfaction

Life satisfaction reflects one’s current life condition as well as one’s life stage (Gutierrez & Hershey, 2014). For retirees, life satisfaction has to be associated with the nature of their transition into retirement and what they experience during this period (Bonsang & Klein, 2012). In the current study, we focus on the change in working/retirement status and its association with older adults’ life satisfaction. We captured various work-retirement pathways using the information on retirement status measured at two waves of the biennial survey of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). We also examined the role of social support as an important coping resource, measured by closeness with spouse/partner, children, other immediate family members, and friends. To sum up, we aim to answer the following two research questions in this study: (a) how life satisfaction of older adults may vary by their working/retirement status change and (b) whether social support can play a positive role in their life satisfaction.

financial well-being, financial stress, mental load, childcare, gender, pandemic

Besides the enormous effect on both individual and public health, the COVID-19 pandemic itself and the measures employed to control it have also had huge socio-economic consequences with strongly gendered effects (Haupt and Lind 2021). As Albanesi and Kim (2021) state, recessions in the United States are usually associated with a larger employment drop for men than for women. However, during the COVID-19 recession, employment losses were larger for women, as it is also being called a “she-cession”. While layoffs and furloughs in female-dominated industries explain part of the picture, many women were leaving the workforce not because their jobs have vanished but because their support systems have. Without historic parallel, the limited availability of in-person childcare and school options, led many parents—and women in particular—to exit the labor force or work reduced hours. Given this macroeconomic background, the purpose of the study is to investigate patterns of subjective financial well-being and its gender-related components in more detail.

Household bargaining, primary investor, human capital, preferences, gender norms, women

The faces of investors are changing as women are now nearly as likely as men to be investors. While America is approaching parity in education and labor force participation, men are still four times more likely to be the primary household investor. One possibility is that men are more likely to fulfill this role because of their education, experience, and preferences. Another is that gender norms encourage women to perform other roles despite their qualifications. As technology and culture change,  so do gender norms, expectations, and educational pursuits. Women have increased their financial literacy, pursued educations more closely aligned to investing, and gained experience related to broader financial management. Given the changes to gender norms in the last century, the question is; to what degree do gender norms influence differences in household roles above and beyond differences in human capital, education, preferences, and performance of other roles? We find evidence that gender norms discourage equally qualified women from being the primary investor and that those gender norms are stronger for older women than younger women. This narrowing gap for younger individuals should signify improved consumer welfare as roles are increasingly based on individual competency.

female labor force participation, divorce, post divorce employment, parenting, time use

Child support and the social safety net are seldom enough to compensate for mothers’ divorce-induced economic losses and parenting commitments tied to child placement arrangements* can lead to competing employment and parenting demands. This paper contributes to the extensive literature on divorce and women's work by studying mothers’ post-divorce employment and earnings, how parenting commitments (financial and otherwise) impact divorced mothers’ decision to work, and whether this differs by placement arrangements – an area less explored to date. Applying a mixed-methods approach to data from a large-scale survey of divorced parents in Wisconsin, USA, the paper quantitatively describes mothers’ post-divorce employment patterns, and uses qualitative data to illustrate how mothers in different placement arrangements manage competing financial and non-financial family obligations. Preliminary findings highlight constraints on divorced mothers’ time-use and earnings that differ by placement categories and are relevant for supplementary income and work participation policies.*Placement arrangements refer to the different ways of dividing the number of nights a child spends with each parent after divorce, as opposed to custody which determines the legal right of a guardian to make decisions for the child after divorce. 

financial wellness, financial behavior, financial knowledge, financial satisfaction, COVID-19 pandemic

Research shows that positive financial behaviors improve the financial well-being of consumers. In this study, we explore how financial behaviors prior to the COVID-19 pandemic are associated with current financial well-being during the pandemic. An online survey of 145 individuals was conducted to gather the data. Our findings show that objective financial status and positive pre-pandemic financial behaviors increase financial well-being during the pandemic. Financial satisfaction mediates the relationship between subjective financial knowledge and financial well-being. Additionally, full-time employment is observed to negatively impact financial well-being. Implications for increasing consumer financial well-being are discussed.

Workplace attrition, Socio-ecological model, community, attitudes towards the police, policing, company culture

Police attrition represents an issue with important implications for public safety and responsible management of taxpayer contributions. Training police officers is expensive. Recouping that cost after placing a new officer takes time. While police officers are leaving the police force at high rates, insights into the reasons for attrition have been examined in more of a piecemeal fashion. Our study employs the socio-ecological model to organize and prioritize possible reasons for attrition. Our research aims to inform policies and programs to reduce officer attrition built from an understanding of the interrelated drivers of an officer’s decision to leave. Our findings suggest that individual and organization factors have the greatest affect on such a decision. Resonant with any other employee’s decision to leave a position, a combination of the officer’s mindset and the organization’s culture or ways of working seems to have the greatest effect. One implication of these findings is a need for police agencies to consider the adoption of psychographic characteristics in hiring and the assessment of agency culture and ways of working in day-to-day working conditions.

Housing segregation, local-government leaders’ perception, family well-being, discriminatory policies, Kendall

Access to affordable housing located in communities with adequate resources and amenities impacts family well-being. However, legacies of discriminatory policies have resulted in segregation by race, ethnicity and income in communities across the United States. While much of the emphasis on housing discrimination and segregation has focused on federal-level actions, access to housing is determined locally. However, little is known about local leaders' awareness or perception of access to housing for the residents in their community. This study uses a unique data set using a statewide survey of local elected officials and staff members from 240 different municipalities in one Southeastern state. We seek to understand better how local leaders perceive housing opportunities in their communities within the context of community demographic characteristics. Kendall tau b correlations were used. Our findings suggest that the majority of respondents were aware that housing in their community is segregated by income, and a plurality indicated that housing is segregated by race and ethnicity. However, respondents in municipalities with higher percentages of White residents, more homeowners, and higher household incomes tended to disagree with statements about the presence of segregation by income and race/ethnicity in their community.

Health, Mental Health, Housing, Affordability, Economics

The home environment, where an individual spends a significant amount of time and resources, has a tremendous impact on mental health (Evans, Wells, & Moch, 2003). For most Americans, expenditure on housing in the form of rent, mortgage and insurance is their largest share of expenditure. For instance, the 2019 Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) indicates that average American spends 33 percent of their monthly income on housing whereas 17 percent on transportation, 12 percent on food and 8 percent on healthcare. The large proportion of income devoted on housing-related expenditures directly or indirectly influences the household budget available for food, medication, health care and education. In this context, this study will explore the relationship between housing stress and serious psychological distress (SPD), a measure that screens the serious mental illness in the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) survey respondents while controlling for socioeconomic status (SES).

field experiment, tax-time intervention, debt repayment education, tax refund, IRS-VITA 

This pilot study is part of an ongoing study exploring whether delivering debt-repayment education at tax-time can improve debt-management behaviors among low- to moderate-income (LMI) households who are IRS-VITA clients in central Arkansas. Limited work has been conducted focusing on tax-time debt-repayment interventions. For many LMI households, deciding how to best allocate their tax refund is an important annual financial decision. This study explores whether tax-time financial education, focused specifically on debt-repayment and the use of a repayment strategy, can serve as an effective tool to help improve financial behaviors. An ongoing framed field experiment is being conducted with LMI clients utilizing IRS-VITA services. Clients anticipating receiving a refund are randomized at the household level when they start the filing process, to either receive a debt repayment educational intervention (treatment), or not (control). This debt-repayment educational intervention utilizes materials adapted from the CFPB’s Your Money, Your Goals Toolkit. Three months after filing their return, 54% of clients who received the intervention used all or part of their refund towards paying down debt, compared to 30.8% of clients in the control group. Although preliminary results, this initial 23.2% difference between groups warrants further data collection during the upcoming 2022 tax season.

Student Loans, Student Borrowers, Financial Stress, Higher Education, Mental Health

The current study investigates the intersection of student loan borrowing and financial stress experiences of student-borrowers. We ask: Do the majority of college student-borrowers experience a higher level of stress if they have a higher level of student loans? What proportion of student-borrowers experiences a higher level of stress despite having a lower level of student loans? We use data from the Ohio State Study on Collegiate Financial Wellness from February 2020; 9,768 participants, or 32.7% of the sample, were used for the analysis. Preliminary findings show the largest segment of student-borrowers, about 61%, report below-average student-loan debt and above-average stress from debt owed. The next two student-borrower segments are similarly sized: 18.4% have higher student-loan amounts and experience above-average stress levels and the opposite group of 19.1% with below-average student-loan amounts and below-average stress levels. Finally, 1.3% of student-borrowers reported above-average student-loan amounts and below-average debt stress. This exploratory study will assist higher education with identifying student-borrowers that are particularly exposed to financial stress and, in turn, the successful implementation of financial resources for students accumulating debt throughout their degree program using newly available data on student-borrowers.

retirement adequacy, stock market, labor force, subjective perceptions

Workers’ subjective assessment of their future retirement adequacy is important because if they have unrealistic perceptions about whether they are on track to have an adequate retirement, they might not plan optimally. This study adds to the literature on perceptions of retirement adequacy by analyzing changes over time in the proportion of worker households assessing their future retirement as adequate. To what extent have perceptions been influenced by recent economic and financial events? Our objective is to estimate whether the proportion of workers with positive assessments of retirement adequacy changed over the 1992 to 2019 period, using a combined dataset of cross-sectional datasets of the U.S. Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). Our descriptive results show that the proportion of respondents with optimistic assessments about their retirement fluctuated somewhat during the 1992 to 2013 period, with a low of 47% in 1995 and a high of 53% in 2004, but then the proportion substantially increased to 67% in 2016, and to 69% in 2019. These time patterns remained with a multivariate analysis controlling for a number of household characteristics The results have implications for consumer education and policy.

LGBTQ, transgender, education, majors, income, wages, inequality

The life-cycle hypothesis informs us that income is a key factor in consumption, borrowing, saving and financial well-being. Research suggests that income is related to and at least partly determined by education. Certain college majors demand higher starting salaries and offer the opportunity for higher lifetime earnings. Using data from the 2017 and 2020 Study on Collegiate Financial Wellness, transgender and gender diverse (TGD) students are less likely to select majors with higher average starting salaries. There is a long history of pay inequality in the United States. Discrimination, bias, and marginalization in the labor market has historically contributed to the income gaps between TGD and cisgender individuals. Major selection by TGD students may also be contributing to their challenges of attaining financial well-being.

privacy, consumer data, state legislation, policy analysis, consumer protection, model legislation

Data has become a valuable commodity. Consumers need strong and effective privacy protection limiting collection, use, and sharing of data to what is reasonably required to provide consumer requested service.  It should have strong enforcement and avoid exemptions and exceptions that reduce consumer protection and mean that consumers have different protection for different kinds of data. This is such a new area that few definitions or strategies are agreed upon, especially in the United States.  The European Union recognizes privacy as a human right and in 2018, put into effect the General Data Protective Regulation.  In the United States, model legislation promoted by the Uniform Law Commission is known as the Uniform Personal Data Protection Act.  It is designed to limit compliance and regulatory costs of providing consumer protection.  Consumer Reports has a model law designed to meet consumer needs.  As states are beginning to take action in the absence of federal action, this is an area where consumers and industry agree on little.  This paper analyzes the legislation passed to date in the US, comparing it with the European version, and outlining critical consumer protections for use in states that consider such legislation in the future.

Expenditure, Import, Protectionist, Foreign trade, Globalization, Political economy, ANES

The general purpose of this research project is to analyze the role of U.S. consumers’ preferences, along with other potential determinants indicated by international trade theories, on citizens’ trade policy views in 2016. Specifically, this project aims to examine the association between U.S. individual- and household-level consumption and citizens’ perception of trade policy, in particular, whether additional import restrictions should be placed by the United States on foreign products. This project utilizes both American National Election Studies (ANES) public survey data and the Consumer Expenditure (CE) Public Use Microdata from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Statistical matching by cells is performed to impute individuals’ consumption patterns in the ANES survey from the CE survey, based on common demographic characteristics observed in both datasets. Additional variables are accessed via the BLS and the United States International Trade Commission (USITC). My hypothesis is that individuals whose consumption bundles largely consist of globally-imported goods are less likely to favor additional import restrictions. A binary response model is constructed to estimate the marginal effect of each potential factor associated with trade policy views.

Home Equity, Mortgage, Retirement, Health Shock, Medication Adherence

The relationship between wealth and health is an important yet complex topic for health economics. We investigate the wealth-health link by explicitly modeling the effect of liquidating home equity through mortgage borrowing on health expenditures, measured here as cost-related non-adherence to medications (CRN), following the onset of one of six costly diseases on or after age 65. Using individual-level data from the 2002-2018 waves of the U.S. Health and Retirement Study, we exploit exogenous spatial and intertemporal variation in ZIP-code level house prices, and indicators for borrowing constraints, to instrument for borrowing. Our two-stage least squares linear probability models with individual fixed effects estimate that each additional $10,000 in new mortgage borrowing is associated with a 1.6 percentage-point reduction in cost-related medication non-adherence. The effect of mortgage borrowing on non-adherence is substantially larger for homeowners for whom housing wealth represents the majority of their total wealth. Results support the importance of housing wealth as a resource that can be tapped to support health in retirement, particularly for homeowners with few other sources of wealth.

Medicare, Dietary supplement, Health, Regression Discontinuity Design, NHANES

The impact of Medicare on health care utilization and health behaviors is widely documented. Although Medicare does not generally provide coverage for dietary supplements, it covers certain vitamins and minerals prescribed by doctors as part of treatment for certain medical conditions. However, whether Medicare increases dietary supplement use is unknown. The increased use of dietary supplements to substitute foods raises a concern because, unlike drugs, the safety and effectiveness of dietary supplement products are not reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before being placed in the market. This study uses data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and regression discontinuity design (RDD) to examine the effect of Medicare on the use of dietary supplements among older adults. The findings provided inconsistent support for the hypotheses that Medicare increases the likelihood and the amount of supplement use. When it did, Medicare was shown to increase the likelihood of supplement use by 27-32 percentage points among older adults. Although most models assessed did not present a statistically-significant causal effect of Medicare, one should note that the coefficients showed the hypothesized signs, and the effect sizes were quite substantial.

depression, financial planning horizon, time preference, intertemporal choice

Major depression is associated with biased information processing and decision making. Previous research suggests that people dealing with depression view the future negatively and exhibit a higher discounting rate than healthy persons. This study tests the hypothesis that depression is associated with the financial planning horizon–the time horizon by which individuals and households formulate their saving and spending schedules. Analyses conducted using data drawn from multiple waves of the Health and Retirement Study show an inverse association between major depressive episodes and the financial planning horizon, indicating that depressed people plan their finances over a shorter horizon. We also find that major depression is associated with various health and financial outcomes representing the evidence of myopic decision making. The link between depression and the financial planning horizon is partially explained by depression-oriented differences in behavioral traits, such as optimism/pessimism, perceived control, perceived mastery, and self-assessed survival probability. Overall, our findings point to a significant economic cost of depression, which compounds through myopic financial planning.

acute scarcity, chronic scarcity, financial well-being, self-efficacy, help-seeking, financial stress

Research on financial scarcity has been focused mainly on the impacts of chronic scarcity on consumer mindsets and behaviors. Less attention has been paid to the “acute scarcity,” a momentary lack of financial resources followed by recovery. Borrowing from the literature on acute stress, we suggest that scarcity can be more broadly viewed as a continuum ranging from no scarcity to chronic scarcity. In this study, we first examine the role that scarcity plays in well-being as well as how acute scarcity might offer a pivotal point at which an individual either descends into a more chronic state of scarcity or moves back to a state without scarcity. Second, we examine whether differences in the actions taken by individuals in response to scarcity mediate the relationship between the type of scarcity (i.e., acute versus chronic) and financial well-being. This study demonstrates that promoting higher levels of financial self-efficacy as well as adaptive responses (e.g., consulting a professional advisor) during an acute experience may be efficacious approaches to improving well-being. 

financial strain, well-being, health, human capital, Survey of Consumer Finances

Health has been shown to be associated with financial well-being, financial behaviors, and retirement satisfaction. Through the lens of human capital theory, we examine the relationship between subjective health status and indebtedness, financial fragility, difficulty paying bills, and financial strain. This study uses data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances. In a binary logistic regression model, we investigate the association of respondents’ health status to three financial strain components. In the multinomial logit we compared subjective health status across three levels of financial strain: (1) no financial strain; (2) some financial strain; (3) high financial strain. The results from all three binary logit models indicate that poor health significantly increases the odds of having debt, experiencing difficulty paying bills, and being financially fragile. We also found that individuals in poor health experience higher financial strain compared to those in good health. In the end, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners should recognize that health may be contributing to widening financial disparities, especially among low socioeconomic and minority groups who are in poor health.

financial literacy, financial knowledge, measurement, response options

Current survey instruments measuring financial knowledge provide multiple response categories of possible answers along with “don’t know” (DK) and “refused to answer” (RA) options. Research in educational testing has shown that a knowledge battery with DK/RA responses invites systematic error associated with the propensity to guess and reduces logical validity in measurement. The validity of financial knowledge measures has received limited attention in the existing literature. Our project will extend the limited line of research and provide critical assessment of a newly developed financial knowledge scale. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate threats and consequences associated with offering DK/RA responses in financial knowledge surveys. Alternate survey protocols will be examined including alternate wording for completing the survey items, alternate prompts for instructions, and incentives for correct answers. The final goal is to identify the most efficient and appropriate survey instrument for researchers and practitioners to use when assessing financial literacy.

financial education, young adults, recall bias, NFCS, achievement gap

Assessments of high school financial education are largely based on self-reported measures, resulting in potentially biased findings. Yet, recent implementation studies reveal that many schools unsuccessfully offer personal finance courses. Hence, I compare measures of "mandated" with measures of "recalled" in testing the role of recall in high school financial education effects. I employ pooled data on financial education receipt and financial behaviors from the National Financial Capability Study and longitudinal data on K-12 educational environments from the U.S. Department of Education and Urban Institute's Education Data Portal. I use variation in timing and presence of state-required personal finance coursework in high schools to estimate propensities for young adults from mandated states to self-report receipt; to assess how recall enhances effects on behaviors; and to discern who is more likely to have a discrepancy. I preliminary find that while mandates are positively associated with self-reported receipt and self-reported receipt display higher effects from mandates, women and urban residents are more likely to have a discrepancy between the two data sources. This warrants further investigation in ensuring that these policies are not further exaceberating gaps among certain subgroups.

Decision fatigue, consumer decision making, information processing, decision-making ability, financial decision

Decision fatigue (i.e., an impaired ability to make effective decisions) is a growing problem associated with negative consumer welfare outcomes. Yet little is known about how it is produced or how a consumer might lessen it. In this study, we examine the roles of need for cognition and information processing effort in decision fatigue as well as the ways in which decision-making ability influences those relationships. We found that individuals with a stronger desire to think deeply about their decision (need for cognition) and those with higher levels of decision-making ability were less susceptible to decision fatigue unless they engaged in effortful processing. Our findings affirm that decision making operates like a muscle that fatigues with use. The implication is that consumer educational programs (e.g., financial education) should increase awareness of decision fatigue and continue to seek ways to warn consumers when their decision-making muscle is weak and decisions might need to be postponed.

financial well-being, life shocks, material hardship, supportive relationship, objective financial situation, current money management stress, expected future financial security 

Ideally, financial well-being is the individual’s subjective assessment of their objective financial situation. In this paper, we examine how experiences of life shocks and material hardship alter the role of objective financial situation in an individual’s determination of their financial well-being and how the presence of supportive relationships can work to restore the reliance on objective markers. Using data from more than 3,000 Australian adults, we explore these associations using moderated moderation models for expected future financial security and current money management stress, the two dimensions of financial well-being. Our findings suggest that life shocks tend to reduce the individual’s reliance on objective markers while material hardship tends to increase the reliance, at least for assessments of expected future financial security. Our findings further suggest that the presence of supportive relationships may serve as a protective barrier against the effects of life shocks and/or material hardship on the individual’s assessment of their financial well-being.

Financial Capability Intervention, Systematic Review, Financial Knowledge, Financial Acccess

For many reasons, there is growing interest academic and public policy interest and investment in financial capability interventions. The study reviews and synthesizes the scientific evidence for consumer financial capability interventions. These interventions feature a combination of financial knowledge and skills, and access to appropriate financial products and services, such as Individual Development Accounts, Child Development Accounts, and Home Ownership Education and Counseling. No previous systematic review has been published on financial capability interventions. 24 unique studies (i.e., used unique samples) are included in this review. Six of those 24 unique studies were large longitudinal studies that presented unique analyses in sub-studies that used different time points, subsamples, and/or outcomes. Results suggest a lack of strong evidence about the effectiveness of financial capability interventions, which has implications for practice and policy. While each type of financial capability intervention has a unique evidence base, this lack of evidence across financial capability intervention points to the need to develop a more definitive evidence base about whether the combination of financial education and financial access provides benefits to clients on specific outcomes.

active learning, case study, college students, higher education, math, personal finance

This article reports a qualitative study to explore the effectiveness of an innovative case study approach in a personal finance course among college students with a goal of making the course inclusive for students who are from economically disadvantaged families and traditionally have unsuccessful experiences in math. A case study approach was used in a senior level personal finance course at a public, research university. Besides conventional case study exercises given in the course, students were also required to create their own cases based on their unique, diverse backgrounds. Responses from students suggested that the approach was effective on helping students understand personal finance concepts and enhancing their computation ability. Information presented in this article can be helpful for educators in higher education or other settings who teach personal finance courses for students who have diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and may be less prepared in math areas.

materialism, credit cards, theory of planned behavior

Materialism is commonly defined by three constitutive values: success, centrality, and happiness (Richins &Dawson, 1992; Tybout & Artz, 1994). Success element says that succeeding in life requires the ownership of material goods. Centrality element indicates that the possession of material goods is the central goal of a person's life. Happiness element implies that the acquisition of material goods can bring about an individual's well-being. In general, materialism is a good indicator of people's desires, decisions, well-being, and social behavior (Richins & Dawson, 1992). Consumers of view credit cards as a way of meeting their materialistic wants through spending, rather than using it as an instrument of borrowing for smoothing out temporary cashflow imbalances within their household finances. Many consumers think credit cards are facilitators for the aspirational, but otherwise unaffordable, lifestyles they wish to attain (Bernthal, Crockett, & Rose, 2005). Prior empirical work suggests that many consumers feel it is easier to use credit cards than spend existing savings. Consumers think that using their credit cards to pay for expenses is a more responsible choice than withdrawing money from their savings accounts (Sussman & O'Brien, 2016).

Debt, poverty, welfare, welfare state, debt counseling, social work, wellbeing, health, unemployment, coping

In terms of the debt of private households in Europe, the trend has been emerging for some years now, that consumers are not only indebted to banks or the consumer economy. They also owe more and more to the state. These debts to the state are linked to social benefits received, such as social assistance, contributions owed to public health insurance or unpaid taxes. The welfare state not only supports and protects its members. It is also their creditor and demands instalment payments and interest from them. But how does it make itself felt in the context of offers of social assistance that the welfare state not only cares about people's well-being but also, as a creditor, demands payments from households in need of assistance and even enforces them in cour? This study examines the impact of household debt on counseling for people experiencing poverty who rely on welfare assistance from the welfare state.