IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeborg/v204y2022icp69-88.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How consumers budget

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, C. Yiwei
  • Sussman, Abigail B.
  • Wang-Ly, Nathan
  • Lyu, Jennifer K.

Abstract

Although budgeting is widely considered a common method of managing household finances, surprisingly little is known about the budgeting process. Using a nationally-representative survey (N=3,826) of US adults, we examine budgeting behaviors and beliefs, including who budgets and why, how individuals categorize consumption, and how they adjust their behavior after over- or under-spending. We identify five facts that illuminate key features of budgeting and supplement findings with administrative data (N=194,678) from a large financial institution in Australia. Understanding systematic patterns in how individuals and households budget can serve a critical role in informing economic models of consumption-savings behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, C. Yiwei & Sussman, Abigail B. & Wang-Ly, Nathan & Lyu, Jennifer K., 2022. "How consumers budget," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 69-88.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:204:y:2022:i:c:p:69-88
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2022.09.025
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268122003493
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jebo.2022.09.025?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Justine Hastings & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2018. "How Are SNAP Benefits Spent? Evidence from a Retail Panel," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(12), pages 3493-3540, December.
    2. Annamaria Lusardi & Daniel Schneider & Peter Tufano, 2011. "Financially Fragile Households: Evidence and Implications," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 42(1 (Spring), pages 83-150.
    3. Shane Frederick & Nathan Novemsky & Jing Wang & Ravi Dhar & Stephen Nowlis, 2009. "Opportunity Cost Neglect," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 36(4), pages 553-561, December.
    4. Glden lkmen & Manoj Thomas & Vicki G. Morwitz, 2008. "Will I Spend More in 12 Months or a Year? The Effect of Ease of Estimation and Confidence on Budget Estimates," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 35(2), pages 245-256, March.
    5. Lusardi, Annamaria & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2007. "Baby Boomer retirement security: The roles of planning, financial literacy, and housing wealth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 205-224, January.
    6. Richard H. Thaler, 2008. "Mental Accounting and Consumer Choice," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 15-25, 01-02.
    7. Reis, Ricardo, 2006. "Inattentive consumers," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(8), pages 1761-1800, November.
    8. Nachum Sicherman & George Loewenstein & Duane J. Seppi & Stephen P. Utkus, 2016. "Editor's Choice Financial Attention," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(4), pages 863-897.
    9. John Ameriks & Andrew Caplin & John Leahy, 2003. "Wealth Accumulation and the Propensity to Plan," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(3), pages 1007-1047.
    10. Henderson, Pamela W. & Peterson, Robert A., 1992. "Mental accounting and categorization," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 92-117, February.
    11. John Beshears & James J. Choi & David Laibson & Brigitte C. Madrian, 2018. "Behavioral Household Finance," NBER Working Papers 24854, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Tullio Jappelli & Luigi Pistaferri, 2010. "The Consumption Response to Income Changes," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 479-506, September.
    13. Andreas Fuster & Greg Kaplan & Basit Zafar, 2021. "What Would You Do with $500? Spending Responses to Gains, Losses, News, and Loans [The Spending and Debt Response to Minimum Wage Hikes]," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 88(4), pages 1760-1795.
    14. Heath, Chip & Soll, Jack B, 1996. "Mental Budgeting and Consumer Decisions," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 23(1), pages 40-52, June.
    15. Galperti, Simone, 2019. "A theory of personal budgeting," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 14(1), January.
    16. Shefrin, Hersh & Nicols, Christina M., 2014. "Credit card behavior, financial styles, and heuristics," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(8), pages 1679-1687.
    17. Kuchler, Theresa & Pagel, Michaela, 2021. "Sticking to your plan: The role of present bias for credit card paydown," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(2), pages 359-388.
    18. Dierick, Nicolas & Heyman, Dries & Inghelbrecht, Koen & Stieperaere, Hannes, 2019. "Financial attention and the disposition effect," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 190-217.
    19. Binswanger, Johannes & Carman, Katherine Grace, 2012. "How real people make long-term decisions: The case of retirement preparation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 39-60.
    20. Gherzi, Svetlana & Egan, Daniel & Stewart, Neil & Haisley, Emily & Ayton, Peter, 2014. "The meerkat effect: Personality and market returns affect investors’ portfolio monitoring behaviour," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 107(PB), pages 512-526.
    21. Jesse M. Shapiro, 2013. "Fungibility and Consumer Choice: Evidence from Commodity Price Shocks," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(4), pages 1449-1498.
    22. Leandro S. Carvalho & Stephan Meier & Stephanie W. Wang, 2016. "Poverty and Economic Decision-Making: Evidence from Changes in Financial Resources at Payday," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(2), pages 260-284, February.
    23. Richard G Netemeyer & Dee Warmath & Daniel Fernandes & John G LynchJr. & Eileen FischerEditor & Olivier ToubiaAssociate Editor, 2018. "How Am I Doing? Perceived Financial Well-Being, Its Potential Antecedents, and Its Relation to Overall Well-Being," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 45(1), pages 68-89.
    24. Persson, Emil & Tinghög, Gustav, 2020. "Opportunity cost neglect in public policy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 301-312.
    25. Sondra G. Beverly & Marianne A. Hilgert & Jeanne M. Hogarth, 2003. "Household financial management: the connection between knowledge and behavior," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), issue Jul, pages 309-322.
    26. Antonides, Gerrit & Manon de Groot, I. & Fred van Raaij, W., 2011. "Mental budgeting and the management of household finance," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 546-555, August.
    27. Niklas Karlsson & George Loewenstein & Duane Seppi, 2009. "The ostrich effect: Selective attention to information," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 95-115, April.
    28. Carey K. Morewedge & Leif Holtzman & Nicholas Epley, 2007. "Unfixed Resources: Perceived Costs, Consumption, and the Accessible Account Effect," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 34(4), pages 459-467, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Antonides, Gerrit & de Groot, I. Manon, 2022. "Mental budgeting of the self-employed without personnel," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    2. Huang, Jiaqi & Antonides, Gerrit & Nie, Fengying, 2020. "Is mental accounting of farm produce associated with more consumption of own-produced food?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    3. Sulka, Tomasz, 2023. "Planning and saving for retirement," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    4. Botond Kőszegi & Filip Matějka, 2020. "Choice Simplification: A Theory of Mental Budgeting and Naive Diversification [“Fungibility, Labels, and Consumption,”]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(2), pages 1153-1207.
    5. Bernard, René, 2022. "Mental Accounting and the Marginal Propensity to Consume," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264186, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    6. Bernard, René, 2023. "Mental accounting and the marginal propensity to consume," Discussion Papers 13/2023, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    7. Mohammed Ziaul Hoque, 2017. "Mental budgeting and the financial management of small and medium entrepreneurs," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1291474-129, January.
    8. Galperti, Simone, 2019. "A theory of personal budgeting," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 14(1), January.
    9. Silva, Emmanuel Marques & Moreira, Rafael de Lacerda & Bortolon, Patricia Maria, 2023. "Mental Accounting and decision making: a systematic literature review," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    10. Francisco Gomes & Michael Haliassos & Tarun Ramadorai, 2021. "Household Finance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 59(3), pages 919-1000, September.
    11. Anderson, Anders & Baker, Forest & Robinson, David T., 2017. "Precautionary savings, retirement planning and misperceptions of financial literacy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 383-398.
    12. Steffen Meyer & Michaela Pagel, 2022. "Fully Closed: Individual Responses to Realized Gains and Losses," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(3), pages 1529-1585, June.
    13. Ye, Zihan & Zou, Xiaopeng & Post, Thomas & Mo, Weiqiao & Yang, Qianqian, 2022. "Too old to plan? Age identity and financial planning among the older population of China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    14. Amasino, Dianna R. & Dolgin, Jack & Huettel, Scott A., 2023. "Eyes on the account size: Interactions between attention and budget in consumer choice," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    15. Berman, Jonathan Z. & Bhattacharjee, Amit & Small, Deborah A. & Zauberman, Gal, 2020. "Passing the buck to the wealthier: Reference-dependent standards of generosity," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 46-56.
    16. Persson, Emil & Tinghög, Gustav, 2020. "Opportunity cost neglect in public policy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 301-312.
    17. Ume Habibah & Ibne Hassan & Muhammad Shahid Iqbal & Naintara, 2018. "Household behavior in practicing mental budgeting based on the theory of planned behavior," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 4(1), pages 1-14, December.
    18. Yanwen Wang & Muxin Zhai & John G. Lynch, 2023. "Cashing Out Retirement Savings at Job Separation," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(4), pages 679-703, July.
    19. Andrew Ellis & David J. Freeman, 2024. "Revealing Choice Bracketing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(9), pages 2668-2700, September.
    20. Tiziana Assenza & Alberto Cardaci & Domenico Delli Gatti, 2019. "Perceived Wealth, Cognitive Sophistication and Behavioral Inattention," CESifo Working Paper Series 7992, CESifo.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Budgeting; Mental accounting; Consumer finance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • G50 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:204:y:2022:i:c:p:69-88. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jebo .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.