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Working Paper
Scarcity and Intertemporal Choice
Scarcity is a ubiquitous experience, and existing evidence largely suggests that people become more myopic when they feel their resources are scarce. Importantly, evidence for this proposition comes primarily from contexts in which scarcity threatens needs that require resources imminently. The current work examines instances in which scarcity threatens needs along a broader time horizon. Archival data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Consumer Finance Institute and five pre-registered studies (N = 7,728) show that the time horizon of threatened needs is an important ...
Working Paper
Consumer Wealth and Price Expectations
Prices have reached record-high levels, and inflation is one of the primary concerns for consumers worldwide. Interestingly, changes in prices are in part a self-fulfilling prophecy: if consumers expect prices to rise, prices will rise. Moreover, consumers’ future price expectations influence policymaking, firms’ decisions, and consumer choice. Across 11 studies (N = 289,437), including a nine-wave longitudinal survey, a multinational study in twelve countries, a multidecade study with 250,000+ consumers, and multiple experiments, we show that consumers who feel more financially ...