Using detailed account-level data, this paper explores how financial sophistication affects consumers' spending responses to changes in income. I document that, controlling for liquidity, financially unsophisticated consumers display significant spending responses to predictable decreases in their disposable income. Furthermore, they have lower savings rates, fewer liquid savings, and higher debt-to-income ratios, leaving them more exposed to income shocks. Robustness tests, supported by anecdotal survey evidence, indicate that these results are driven by some consumers' lack of financial sophistication and their consequent failure to understand their financial contracts, rather than by random idiosyncratic shocks, rational liquidity management, or optimal inattention.

中文翻译：

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财务成熟度和消费者支出


使用详细的账户级数据，本文探讨了财务成熟度如何影响消费者对收入变化的支出反应。我记录到，在控制流动性的情况下，财务状况不成熟的消费者对可预测的可支配收入减少表现出显著的消费反应。此外，他们的储蓄率较低，流动储蓄较少，债务收入比较高，这使他们更容易受到收入冲击。由轶事调查证据支持的稳健性测试表明，这些结果是由于一些消费者缺乏财务成熟度以及随之而来的对金融合同的不理解，而不是由随机的特殊冲击、合理的流动性管理或最佳疏忽造成的。