 In the mood to consume: Effect of sunshine on credit card spendingSumit Agarwal, Souphala Chomsisengphet, Stephan Meier and Xin Zou Journal of Banking & Finance, 2020, vol. 121, issue C Abstract: Using a large, representative sample of high-frequency credit card transactions in the United States, this paper examines the causal effect of sunshine-induced mood on contemporaneous household credit card spending. We document a 0.3 percent increase in credit card spending in response to a one-unit increase in the same-day local abnormal sunshine. The spending response is stronger for consumers with higher credit card debt, lower FICO score, and shorter tenure with the bank. The effect manifests in long-term, durable goods spending, and is not driven by other weather conditions, complementarity between sunshine and consumption, or intentional choice of consumption time. We document similar responses of spending on seasonal and non-seasonal goods and during times with high and low sunshine levels. Finally, the sunshine effect occurs among consumers with various characteristics. Keywords: Credit cards; Mood; Sunshine; Household finance; Consumption (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:121:y:2020:i:c:s0378426620302223 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2020.105960 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Banking & Finance is currently edited by Ike Mathur More articles in Journal of Banking & Finance from Elsevier |
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