Credit cards, the demand for money, and monetary aggregation

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Jinan Liu ◽  
Apostolos Serletis

Abstract We use nonparametric and parametric demand analysis to empirically estimate a credit card-augmented monetary asset demand system, based on the Minflex Laurent flexible functional form, and a sample period that includes the 2007–2009 global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. We also use multivariate copulae in an attempt to capture various patterns of dependence structures. In doing so, we relax the joint normality assumption of the errors of the demand system and estimate the model without having to delete one equation as is usually the practice. We show that the Minflex Laurent copula-based demand system produces a higher income elasticity for credit card transaction services and higher Morishima elasticities between credit card transaction services and monetary assets compared to the traditional estimation of the Minflex Laurent demand system. We also show that credit cards are substitutes for monetary assets and that there is lower tail dependence between the demand for credit card transaction services and transaction balances.

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (07) ◽  
pp. 2941-2958
Author(s):  
Dongfeng Chang ◽  
Apostolos Serletis

We investigate the demand for money and the degree of substitutability among monetary assets in the United States using the generalized Leontief and the Minflex Laurent (ML) models as suggested by Serletis and Shahmoradi (2007). In doing so, we merge the demand systems literature with the recent financial econometrics literature, relaxing the homoskedasticity assumption and instead assuming that the covariance matrix of the errors of flexible demand systems is time-varying. We also pay explicit attention to theoretical regularity, treating the curvature property as a maintained hypothesis. Our findings indicate that only the curvature constrained ML model with a Baba, Engle, Kraft, and Kroner (BEKK) specification for the conditional covariance matrix is able to generate inference consistent with theoretical regularity.


2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
APOSTOLOS SERLETIS ◽  
ASGHAR SHAHMORADI

This paper focuses on the demand for money in the United States in the context of five popular locally flexible functional forms—the generalized Leontief, the basic translog, the almost ideal demand system, the Minflex Laurent, and the normalized quadratic reciprocal indirect utility function. We pay explicit attention to the theoretical regularity conditions of positivity, monotonicity, and curvature and argue that much of the older empirical literature ignores economic regularity. We treat the curvature property as a maintained hypothesis and provide a comparison in terms of violations of the regularity conditions and in terms of output in the form of a full set of elasticities. We also provide a policy perspective, in that a strong case can be made for abandoning the simple sum approach to monetary aggregation, on the basis of the low elasticities of substitution among the components of the popular M2 aggregate of money.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Barnett ◽  
Liting Su

A monetary production model of financial firms is employed to investigate supply-side inside-money aggregation, augmented to include credit card transaction services. Inside money is a supply-side concept. Financial firms are conceived to produce monetary and credit card transaction services as outputs through financial intermediation. While credit cards provide transactions services, credit cards have never been included into measures of the money supply. The reason is accounting conventions, which do not permit adding liabilities to assets. However, index number theory measures service flows and is based on microeconomic aggregation theory, not accounting. We derive theory needed to measure the supply of the joint services of credit cards and inside money, needed to estimate the output supply function and to compute value added. The data needed for empirical implementation of our theory are available online from the Center for Financial Stability in New York City.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaimy Johana Johan ◽  
Lennora Putit

Many past researches have been carried out in an attempt to continuously understand individuals‟ consumption behaviour. This study was conducted to investigate key factors influencing consumers‟ potential acceptance of halal (or permissible) financial credit card services. Specifically, it anticipated the influence of attitude, social influences and perceived control on consumers‟ behavioural intention to accept such services. In addition, factors such as religiosity and product knowledge were also postulated to affect consumers‟ attitude towards the act of using halal credit cards for any retail or business transactions. Using non-probability sampling approach, a total of 500 survey questionnaires was distributed to targeted respondents in a developing nation but only 220 usable feedbacks were received for subsequent data analysis. Regression results revealed that religiosity and product knowledge significantly influence consumers‟ attitude toward using halal credit card services.  Attitude in turn, subsequently has a significant impact on consumers‟ intention to accept halal financial credit card services. Several theoretical and managerial contributions were observed in this study.   


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sachin Banker ◽  
Derek Dunfield ◽  
Alex Huang ◽  
Drazen Prelec

AbstractCredit cards have often been blamed for consumer overspending and for the growth in household debt. Indeed, laboratory studies of purchase behavior have shown that credit cards can facilitate spending in ways that are difficult to justify on purely financial grounds. However, the psychological mechanisms behind this spending facilitation effect remain conjectural. A leading hypothesis is that credit cards reduce the pain of payment and so ‘release the brakes’ that hold expenditures in check. Alternatively, credit cards could provide a ‘step on the gas,’ increasing motivation to spend. Here we present the first evidence of differences in brain activation in the presence of real credit and cash purchase opportunities. In an fMRI shopping task, participants purchased items tailored to their interests, either by using a personal credit card or their own cash. Credit card purchases were associated with strong activation in the striatum, which coincided with onset of the credit card cue and was not related to product price. In contrast, reward network activation weakly predicted cash purchases, and only among relatively cheaper items. The presence of reward network activation differences highlights the potential neural impact of novel payment instruments in stimulating spending—these fundamental reward mechanisms could be exploited by new payment methods as we transition to a purely cashless society.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Matthew D. Hilchey ◽  
Matthew Osborne ◽  
Dilip Soman

Abstract Regulators require lenders to display a subset of credit card features in summary tables before customers finalize a credit card choice. Some jurisdictions require some features to be displayed more prominently than others to help ensure that consumers are made aware of them. This approach could lead to untoward effects on choice, such that relevant but nonprominent product features do not factor in as significantly. To test this possibility, we instructed a random sample of 1615 adults to choose between two hypothetical credit cards whose features were shown side by side in tables. The sample was instructed to select the card that would result in the lowest financial charges, given a hypothetical scenario. Critically, we randomly varied whether the annual interest rates and fees were made visually salient by making one, both, or neither brighter than other features. The findings show that even among credit-savvy individuals, choice tends strongly toward the product that outperforms the other on a salient feature. As a result, we encourage regulators to consider not only whether a key feature should be made more salient, but also the guidelines regarding when a key feature should be displayed prominently during credit card acquisition.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinan Liu ◽  
Apostolos Serletis

Abstract We reexamine the effects of the variability of money growth on output, raised by Mascaro and Meltzer (1983), in the era of the increasing use of alternative payments, such as credit cards. Using a bivariate VARMA, GARCH-in-Mean, asymmetric BEKK model, we find that the volatility of the credit card-augmented Divisia M4 monetary aggregate has a statistically significant negative impact on output from 2006:7 to 2019:3. However, there is no effect of the traditional Divisia M4 growth volatility on real economic activity. We conclude that the balance sheet targeting monetary policies after the financial crisis in 2007–2009 should pay more attention on the broad credit card-augmented Divisia M4 aggregate to address economic and financial stability.


2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 368-383
Author(s):  
King Yin Wong ◽  
Michael Lynn

Purpose The extant literature has mixed results regarding the credit card cue effect. Some showed that credit card cues stimulate spending, whereas others were unable to replicate the findings or found that cues discourage consumer spending. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how consumers’ sensitivity to the pain of payment affects their mental associations about credit cards and how the differences in credit card associations moderate the credit card cue effect on spending, providing a possible explanation for the mixed results in the literature. Furthermore, this paper examines the role of consumers’ perceived financial well-being, measured by their perceptions of current and future wealth and their sense of financial security, in mediating this moderation effect. Design/methodology/approach An experimental study was conducted with a sample of 337 participants to test the hypothesized model. Findings After being shown credit card cues, spendthrift participants had more spending-related thoughts and less debt-related thoughts, perceived themselves as having better financial well-being and consequently spent more than tightwad participants. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the direct link between an exposure to credit card cues and perceived financial well-being, and one of the few to show evidence of the moderating effect of consumers’ sensitivity to the pain of payment on spending when credit card cues are present. This study suggests that marketers may use credit card cues to promote consumer spending, whereas consumers, especially spendthrifts, should be aware of how credit card cues may inflate their perceived financial well-being and stimulate them to spend more.


2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakob Cakarnis ◽  
Steve Peter D'Alessandro

Purpose – This paper investigates the determinants of credit card use and misuse by student and young professionals. Critical to the research is the impact of materialism and knowledge on selection of the appropriate credit card. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses survey research and partial least squares to investigate credit card behaviors of students versus young professionals. Findings – In a comparative study of young professionals and students, it was found that consumer knowledge, as expected, leads to better consumer selection of credit cards. Materialism was also found to increase the motivation for more optimal consumer outcomes. For more experienced consumers, such as young professionals, it was found that despite them being more knowledgeable, they were more likely to select a credit card based on impulse. Originality/value – This paper examines how materialism may in fact encourage some consumers to make better decisions because they are more motivated to develop better knowledge. It also shows how better credit card selection may inhibit impulse purchasing.


2000 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 643-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Beth Pinto ◽  
Diane H. Parente ◽  
Todd S. Palmer

Much has been written in the popular press on credit card use and spending patterns of American college students. The proliferation of credit cards and their ease of acquisition ensure that students today have more opportunities for making more credit purchases than any other generation of college students. Little is known about the relationship between students' attitudes towards materialism and their use of credit cards. A study was conducted at three college campuses in the northeastern part of the United States where a total of 1,022 students were surveyed. Students' attitudes toward use of credit and their credit card balances were evaluated relative to their scores on Richins and Dawson's Materialism Scale (1992). Our findings suggest no significant difference between those individuals scoring high versus low on the Materialism Scale in terms of the number of credit cards owned and the average balance owed. Individuals high on materialism, however, significantly differed in terms of their uses for credit cards and their general attitude toward their use.


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