"Quick Response" Economic Stimulus: The Effect of Small-Value Digital Coupons on Spending

Jianwei Xing, Eric Zou, Zhentoa Yin, Yong Wang and Zhenhua Li

American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 2023, vol. 15, issue 4, 249-304

Abstract: We study a new consumption stimulus program implemented by a large Chinese city that leverages mobile payment platforms to dispense massive amounts of small-value digital coupons. Exploiting a "rush" design of the dispensing process in which over 1 million program participants compete for coupons on a first-come, first-served basis through a digital portal, we estimate that winning coupons increases weekly out-of-pocket spending by US$3 for every US$1 in government subsidy. Coupon-winning consumers practice intertemporal substitution by moving up purchases that would have been made four months in the future. Customer flow analysis suggests that coupons distort consumption toward pricier options.

JEL-codes: D15 E21 E42 H71 O18 P25 P36 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/mac.20210148 (application/pdf)
https://doi.org/10.3886/E179601V1 (text/html)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/mac.20210148.ds (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: "Quick Response" Economic Stimulus: The Effect of Small-Value Digital Coupons on Spending (2020)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aejmac:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:249-304

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

DOI: 10.1257/mac.20210148

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics is currently edited by Simon Gilchrist

More articles in American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().