MPC or MPCrypto? Heterogenous Responses to Stimulus Checks

I analyze transaction-level data gathered by a financial aggregator fintech to study the effects of three waves of Economic Impact Payment (EIP) stimulus checks on households’ investment, consumption, and savings decisions. I estimate the aggregate marginal propensity to consume (MPC) out of EIP to be around 26-29%, similar across waves. I recover individual-level MPCs and show that liquidity and debt position are important drivers of within-person variation in consumption sensitivity to windfall income. In addition, I estimate that $15-16 billion out of stimulus is invested in the stock or cryptocurrency markets, with a relatively strong effect on market participation. There is a significant gender gap in the propensity to invest