Understanding Consumer Financial Behavior

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • W. Fred van Raaij

      Pages 1-10

3. Part I

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11

      PDF

   2. Money Management

      • W. Fred van Raaij

      Pages 13-32

   3. Saving Behavior

      • W. Fred van Raaij

      Pages 33-44

   4. Credit Behavior and Debt Problems

      • W. Fred van Raaij

      Pages 45-61

   5. Insurance and Prevention Behavior

      • W. Fred van Raaij

      Pages 63-75

   6. Pension Plans and Retirement Provisions

      • W. Fred van Raaij

      Pages 77-87

   7. Investment Behavior

      • W. Fred van Raaij

      Pages 89-101

   8. Tax Behavior: Compliance and Evasion

      • W. Fred van Raaij

      Pages 103-111

   9. Victims of Financial Fraud

      • W. Fred van Raaij

      Pages 113-126

   10. Responsible Financial Behavior

       • W. Fred van Raaij

       Pages 127-141

4. Part II

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 143-143

      PDF

   2. Individual Differences and Segmentation

      • W. Fred van Raaij

      Pages 145-157

   3. Confidence and Trust

      • W. Fred van Raaij

      Pages 159-171

   4. Loss Aversion and Reference Points

      • W. Fred van Raaij

      Pages 173-184

   5. Risk Preference

      • W. Fred van Raaij

      Pages 185-194

   6. Time Preference

      • W. Fred van Raaij

      Pages 195-210

   7. Decision-Making, Decision Architecture, and Defaults

      • W. Fred van Raaij

      Pages 211-226

   8. Self-Regulation

      • W. Fred van Raaij

      Pages 227-243

Government policies, marketing campaigns of banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions, and consumers' protective actions all depend on assumptions about consumer financial behavior. Unfortunately, many consumers have no or little knowledge of budgeting, financial products, and financial planning. It is therefore important that organizations and market authorities know why consumers spend, borrow, insure, invest, and save for their retirement - or why they do not. Understanding Consumer Financial Behavior provides a systemic economic and behavioral approach to the way people handle their finances. It discusses the different types of financial behaviors consumers may engage in and explores the psychological explanations for their behavior and choices. This exciting new book is essential reading for scholars of marketing, finance, and management; financial professionals; and consumer policy makers.

• Consumer behavior
• financial behavior
• money management
• spending
• financial literacy
• financial illiteracy
• budgeting
• saving
• debt
• investment
• financial fraud
• risk
• time preference
• decision-making
• self-regulation

“W. Fred van Raaij seeks to describe the foundations of our financial actions and, in turn, provide direction toward improved public policies, better regulation for consumer protection, and more trustworthy financial practices. … For psychologists, the book offers a handy guide to how economists think about the determinants of financial behaviors … . I also see van Raaij’s book as a supplemental text for graduate courses in finance and as highly recommended reading for professional financial advisers.” (Len Tashman, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 61 (46), November, 2016)

W. Fred van Raaij is Emeritus Professor of Economic Psychology at Tilburg University, the Netherlands. He has worked at Tilburg University and Erasmus University of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. His research interests are consumer behavior, environmental concerns and energy saving, the financial behavior of consumers and investors, and the effects of marketing communications.

Policies and ethics