This paper summarizes and outlines some interesting issues that arose during a recent workshop on Consumer Behavior and Payment Choice, hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's Emerging Payments Research Group (EPRG) on July 25, 2008. Topics addressed are the consumer adoption of new...

In this article, we review the literature on the best ways to identify the causal effects of microcredit, present, and discuss some empirical results of the impact of microcredit on the adoption of innovations, investments, farm incomes, and profits. The results of empirical studies converge...

I explain the credit card debt puzzle – the co-holding of high-cost debt and low-yield liquid assets – with a household and individual determinant that lower debt repayments. At the household level, co-holding is consistent with intra-household frictions. Couples co-hold 40 percent more than...

Life events may alter the circumstances and life trajectory, depending on their magnitude, duration and whether or not it was foreseen. The responses to these life events are likely to be influenced by personal appraisal of the event, coping skills, access to effective support networks,...

The purpose of this study was to examine associations between saving goals and saving behavior from a perspective of Maslow's Hierarchy. Using 1998-2007 Surveys of Consumer Finance data, we analyzed responses given to an open-ended saving reason question, and categorized responses into six...

Spanish Abstract: No obstante la estrecha relación que existe entre la economía, la biología y la psicología desde finales del siglo XIX, –las principales categorías económicas tienen claras connotaciones psicológicas– la llamada “corriente principal” en economía no se ha...

Managing financial matters is an important household task that is often left up to one partner. These decisions tend to be managed by men often based on factors unrelated to financial knowledge or skills. Many studies in sociology and, more recently, economics point to gender norms related to...

Spanish Abstract: Los impuestos representan el mayor porcentaje de los ingresos públicos de México; sin embargo, este es uno de los países con menor recaudación tributaria. Debido a ello, el presente artículo analizó la cultura fiscal de los municipios de Mérida, Umán y Tekax, en el...