Basic Social Justice Orientation (BSJO) is a scale measuring value orientation of consumers regarding socially distributive justice in European areas and consists of 4 components: Equality, Need, Equity, and Entitlement. This study examines the relationship among Big Five personality traits, BSJO, and charitable giving behavior, using 2022 Koreans' Happiness Survey data. While controlling previously well-known antecedents of charitable giving behavior, including religion and various aspects of life satisfaction, this study concluded the following. First, Big Five personality traits influence BSJO. Second, even after controlling Big Five and religion, BSJO influences charitable giving participation. Specifically, BSJO components such as "Need" and "Entitlement" positively influence charitable behavior, while "Equality" and "Equity" have a negative effect. In addition, “Equity” within BSJO is an important social justice value that differentiates regular from non-regular donors. Third, the relationship between Big Five and charitable giving participation is mediated by the BSJO component, specifically “Need.” Both Openness and Conscientiousness demonstrated significant effects on charitable giving through “Need” mediation. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the impact of Big Five personality traits and BSJO on consumer donations. Advice for nonprofit foundations and suggestions for future research are discussed at the end.
This study investigates how personality traits, specifically neuroticism and extraversion, influence retirement timing among older adults across Europe and Israel. Utilizing data from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), the research explores the psychological dimensions of retirement decisions, which are often overlooked in favor of economic and policy-driven factors. By integrating personality traits into the analysis, this study offers a more comprehensive understanding of what drives individuals to retire earlier or later. The findings reveal that neuroticism is associated with delayed retirement, likely due to heightened concerns over economic security, while extraversion correlates with earlier retirement as individuals seek social engagement and leisure outside of work. The study also examines the other three Big Five personality traits—agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness—finding no significant impact on retirement timing. This cross-national analysis contributes to more nuanced retirement planning and policy development by acknowledging the diverse psychological profiles of retirees. The insights gained can inform targeted financial guidance and adaptive retirement policies that align with individual needs, enhancing economic stability and quality of life for older adults. The study underscores the importance of considering psychological traits alongside traditional factors in retirement research.
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) is one of the newest short-term credit options available in the marketplace today. It is designed to be an interest-free way of splitting the cost of a good or service into smaller payments, to be repaid in full over the course of six weeks. BNPL has seen exponential growth over the last five years, yet it is still a highly unregulated form of credit. The study will explore the profile of the typical BNPL user financial behavior with the ultimate goal of answering the question of whether BNPL is a prudent financial practice utilized by the financially savvy or a predatory form of credit designed to target the financially vulnerable. The 2023 Survey of Household Economics and Decision-Making (SHED) to attempt to answer these questions. Finally, this study advocates for regulatory bodies in the United States to devise legislation to protect the most vulnerable from some of the most potent risks of BNPL products, including loan stacking and overextending for the study results show that BNPL is predatory.
Pawn loans, payday loans, check cashers, and other non-bank financial products provide a crucial credit source to lower income households, although empirical literature on how these “fringe banks” affect well-being is mixed. We test whether the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion reduced demand for these controversial products by assisting households with medical expenditure risk. _x000D_ We show reductions in use of fringe banks result from increases in insurance and reductions in medical expenditures. We find that Medicaid eligibility decreases use of fringe bank products on average, particularly fringe credit products. Importantly, however, the effect of the Medicaid expansion on fringe bank use varies substantially by state. Using detailed information on state policies and machine learning, we show that how states expanded Medicaid is crucial to whether individuals in that state report improved financial outcomes as a result of the Medicaid expansion.
After the 2018 Supreme Court decision overturning Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which had effectively banned sports betting nationwide, 38 states legalized sports gambling. As a result, between 2019 and 2023, the total amount legally wagered on sports increased tenfold. This study assesses the causal impact of sports gambling legalization on alternative financial service use using a nation-wide 1% sample of individual-level payday loan application data from Clarity from 2014 to 2021. I leverage state-quarter level variation in the legality of sports gambling after the 2018 Supreme Court decision using a two-way fixed effects framework with staggered treatment timing introduced by Callaway and Sant’Anna (2021). The convenience of app-based betting platforms, offering the ability to place bets at any time from any location, raises concerns about the potential for exacerbating gambling problems that increase financial hardships. Research has yet to explore these potential consequences of legalized sports gambling on alternative financial service use. This study provides empirical evidence for policymakers and advocacy groups to consider in the development of regulations to mitigate the negative externalities of gambling legalization on personal and household financial well-being.
Consumer financial access has been measured through a wide range of financial services and products in the literature, while the psychometric properties of such measures are not clear. This study explores the dimensions underlying consumer financial access related to mainstream financial products and services in the United States. Using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), three factors of 14 financial services and products were extracted, explaining 52% of the cumulative variance. Results suggest categorizing financial products and services into three distinct components: basic banking services (two items: checking and savings accounts); advanced financial services (nine items: retirement accounts, Certificate of Deposits (CDs), investments, disability insurance, life insurance, bank loan, line of credit, financial counseling/coaching, and credit score); and mobile/online banking services (three items: mobile banking, transfer applications, and debit cards). When measuring and evaluating financial access, it is important to include a comprehensive list of financial services and products from these three categories. These findings have significant implications for research, practice, and policy._x000D_
Transgender Americans are a growing demographic with unique financial concerns. This study analyzes data from the “transpop survey”, the first national probability sample of transgender Americans. We use regression analysis to examine the financial situation of transgender people._x000D_ We find that transgender Americans are significantly more likely to display signs of financial vulnerability than the population as a whole - for example, struggling to meet everyday expenses and skipping a doctor's appointment for financial reasons. We also find that variation in financial outcomes within the transgender population, does not display the same gender patterns as within the population as a whole.
Consumers experiencing lower levels of intimate social support are often left to navigate the requirements of life using only the resources available to them. In at least some cases, those resources are insufficient to cope with the demands of life. Supportive services represent one external source of coping resources that an individual might employ to maintain well-being in the absence of intimate social support. In this study we argue that the use of services can be an effective coping resource for people experiencing a lower level of social support. Using data from 600 U.S. adults, we explore the use of services as a mediating role in the relationship between social support and well-being. We find that while the use of supportive services promotes greater well-being, people experiencing lower levels of intimate social support are not more (or less) likely to seek such services. We feel this finding represents opportunities in the design of services and the education of consumers as to the benefits of their use.
In this study, I employ text analysis to examine the wide range of personal finance courses available to high school students in the US. I focus on text information available in the course names and course descriptions collected for more than 19,000 courses offered in high schools across the US. Course descriptions and course names include important information that is used by many decision makers, including students, instructors, prospective employers, and post-secondary educational institutions (Oregon State University, 2024). I will analyze trends in the content and objectives of high school personal finance courses across time and geography. The findings from this study will contribute a new perspective on differences in the implementation of personal finance course mandates at the local level.
This study investigates the impact of financial literacy on financial well-being, accounting for state-level variations across the United States. Grounded in Human Capital Theory, which posits that individuals' knowledge and skills significantly influence their economic outcomes, this research employs a multilevel ordinal regression model to explore how subjective and objective financial literacy affect individuals' financial well-being. Using data from the NFCS 2021 dataset, the analysis captures individual and state-level variations in financial well-being. The study finds that objective and subjective financial literacy strongly predict financial well-being. While state-level factors contribute to variations in financial well-being, their influence is relatively minor compared to individual-level financial literacy and demographics. These findings highlight the importance of promoting financial literacy to improve financial well-being across diverse populations. For policymakers and educators, the study emphasizes the need for targeted financial education programs that address gaps in both knowledge and confidence, particularly among vulnerable groups, while acknowledging the role of state-level interventions in enhancing financial outcomes. Furthermore, the insights from this study can guide financial planners and advisors in developing more tailored strategies to improve financial literacy and support better financial decision-making, ultimately reducing financial stress and enhancing long-term financial security.
This study examines the impact of state-mandated high school financial education on banking decisions using FDIC survey data (2009-2023). While unbanked households decreased steadily from 8.2% to 4.2% (2011-2023), decline has slowed, with 5.6 million households still unbanked. Establishing a causal link between financial education and inclusion will be insightful, as prior research only shows correlation. This research employs a two-way fixed effects difference-in-differences model, exploiting variation in state mandates to analyze their effect on individuals’ likelihood of being banked and on future banking interest among those unbanked. Findings reveal that exposure to personal finance coursework significantly reduces the likelihood of being unbanked and decreases the likelihood of being uninterested in opening a bank account among the unbanked population. These results underscore the importance of mandated high school financial education for future financial decision-making and promoting financial inclusion.
The purpose of this study is to analyze differences in self-reported financial vulnerability among older adults by immigrant status. Overall, foreign-born Hispanic males have lower anxiety frequency related to day-to-day financial decisions than both U.S. born Hispanic males and foreign-born White males. However, foreign-born respondents have higher odds of being “very worried” about losing financial freedom when compared to US-born respondents who are “not worried” or “somewhat worried” about losing financial freedom. More specifically, foreign-born White males or foreign-born Hispanic females have 267.8% and 471.9% higher odds of being “very worried” about losing financial freedom than U.S.-born White males or U.S.-born Hispanic females who are “not worried” or “somewhat worried” about losing financial freedom, respectively. Finally, foreign-born respondents are more likely to have higher frequencies of being talked into spending or donating when compared to US-born respondents. In particular, foreign-born Hispanic females have 211.7% higher odds of having higher frequencies of being talked into spending or donating money when they initially did not want to than U.S.-born Hispanic females.
Families with mixed documented and undocumented legal statuses encounter significant challenges that impact their financial wellbeing (Ayon et al., 2023). This study explores family financial socialization within Latine mixed-status families, a relatively understudied group. Over the past decade, research has highlighted the crucial role parents play in shaping their children’s financial understanding. This process involves transmitting financial information, skills, attitudes, and behaviors through observation, discussions, and experiential learning. While previous studies have noted variations in family financial socialization based on race, ethnicity, and immigration status, there is limited research on mixed-status families. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the experiences and perceptions of 12 dyads of college students and their parents from Latine mixed-status families across the United States. By focusing on how immigration status influences financial socialization, the study seeks to uncover the unique challenges these families face and their strategies for financial education. This research will provide valuable insights into the dynamics of financial socialization in Latine mixed-status families, contributing to a broader understanding of how diverse family backgrounds impact financial well-being.
Despite the number of immigrants in the U.S., limited research exists on their financial fraud experience. Delving deeper into immigrants’ financial fraud experience including the types of fraud is important because it can be a barrier for them to be fully integrated into the U.S. economy. The primary purpose of this study was to understand the fraud experience of immigrant consumers in the United States and to identify possible associations between individual factors and state-level factors and financial fraud experience and type of fraud experienced. Individual factors include financial literacy and cognitive abilities (from the data of Understanding America Study), and state-level factors include measures for proportion immigrant population (from the American Community Survey) and fraud severity (from Federal Trade Commission) in the state of residence. The study found that financial fraud experience was more widespread for first- and second-generation immigrants compared to non-immigrants, and misrepresentation of information was the most frequently experienced type of financial fraud. The results from SEM showed that the lower financial literacy among second-generation immigrants and the trend that immigrants tend to reside in the states with more foreign-born population and with higher fraud severity partially contributed to immigrants’ fraud experience.
This study examines how citizenship and immigration status, along with distinct pre-migration and post-migration factors, shape financial engagement and inclusion among U.S. consumers, focusing particularly on immigrants. Financial resilience and equitable access to services are essential for consumer well-being, yet many immigrants face barriers rooted in both their countries of origin and experiences in the U.S. Using data from the FDIC-CPS, this study explores how pre-migration factors—such as financial norms, home-country banking system maturity, and language proficiency—interact with post-migration factors like citizenship status, age of arrival, and ethnicity enclave capital to influence financial engagement. These variables affect immigrants' interaction with formal financial services, which tend to have more regulation, and can also push them toward alternative financial services that often have less regulation, potentially higher interest rates, and additional service fees. Access to regulated financial services is essential for resilience against economic shocks. Findings will identify key barriers that immigrant populations face, guiding policies and initiatives aimed at promoting financial equity and resilience. By addressing these disparities, financial institutions and policymakers can create a more inclusive financial system that strengthens the economic well-being of underserved consumers.
This research utilizes the Panel Study of Income Dynamics dataset to examine the impact of the Affordable Care Act on labor force participation and overall well-being among workers with disabilities, with a particular focus on expanding individuals with Medicaid and access to healthcare exchanges. It also examines the ACA and Medicaid expansion associations on income level change for individuals with disabilities and compares labor force participation for individuals with disabilities between states that have adopted Medicaid expansion and those that haven't. The preliminary findings in this study add empirical evidence that the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion positively impact labor participation levels and directly benefit family income levels due to better healthcare access, especially for individuals from lower incomes or with disabilities.
Financial anxiety is a crucial topic in financial well-being and public health issues. Financial resilience, as a specific financial capability for coping with adversity, can promote financial well-being and holistic health. However, the association between financial resilience and financial anxiety has yet to be examined, particularly considering cross-national heterogeneities. Built on resilience theory and international evidence, this study proposed and examined a framework of global financial health nexuses. Empirical data was extracted from the World Bank, United Nations, and Fraser Institute. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze the multilevel data from 100,134 adults across 131 countries. After considering country-level indicators, there were still significantly negative associations between subjective or objective financial resilience and financial anxiety. Cross-national differences in financial anxiety were also significantly influenced by individual characteristics, human development index, and social welfare expenditure. Subjective financial resilience showed higher effects than its objective counterparts. Extreme poverty and social welfare expenditure were significant moderators. This study contributes to providing a global development perspective on relations and variations between financial resilience and financial anxiety, and it also suggests contextually adaptable implications for international policies and services on socioeconomic interventions, sustainable development, and financial health promotion.
This research examines the role of financial resilience in supporting well-being, particularly during and after adverse life events. Financial resilience is defined as a composite of four dimensions: economic resources, financial access and inclusion, financial knowledge and behavior, and social capital (Salignac et al., 2019). Our study utilizes data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, covering the period from 2014 to 2020. To explore how financial resilience impacts well-being, we employ fixed effects panel regression, focusing on indicators such as life satisfaction, financial satisfaction, and mental health. Additionally, we apply a difference-in-difference event study design to examine the "bounce back" effect, assessing how financial resilience influences recovery from adverse life events. The findings contribute to our understanding of how financial resilience acts as a buffer against declines in well-being following financial and personal shocks, helping individuals recover more quickly. These results highlight the crucial role of financial resilience in safeguarding both financial stability as well as mental health and well-being.
With the rise of social media and a growing interest in how it is related to mental health, it is becoming increasingly important to consider the relationship between social media and financial mental health. As regulators consider policy for social media in order to mitigate its potential negative impacts on adolescent mental health, often the element of financial mental health is overlooked. This study looks to better address this gap in research by exploring the association between social media and financial anxiety. By using data from the National Financial Capability Study, this project will explore how social media and other factors are related to financial anxiety and make recommendations for future research and potential regulation.
This research aims to address the literature gaps by investigating the associations between social media usage and investor optimism, especially when considering the interaction between subjective and objective investment knowledge. Utilizing the 2021 National Financial Capability Study (NFCS) main dataset and its supplementary Investor Survey, this study specifically examines how the use of social media as an investment information source affects investors’ portfolio performance expectations. Particular attention is paid to comparing investors who anticipate above-market performance versus those expecting market-equivalent returns, with investment knowledge serving as a potential mediating factor.
