Does self-control constitute a driver of millennials’ financial behaviors and attitudes?

Lucía Rey-Ares, Sara Fernández-López, Sandra Castro-González and David Rodeiro-Pazos

Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), 2021, vol. 93, issue C

Abstract: Millennials are currently facing particular financial challenges that will condition the future financial well-being of the society as a whole, and the decision-making process happening in worse circumstances than those of preceding generations. However, few studies to date have deeply analyzed millennials’ financial behaviors, and particularly, how self-control operationalizes their financial choices. Using data from the 2017 Survey of Financial Competences of Spanish individuals, this paper analyzes how self-control influences different financial behaviors and attitudes and whether this effect differs between millennials and older generations. The results indicate that self-control does influence the individuals’ financial attitudes regardless of generation, whereas in the case of financial behaviors, only those millennials exhibiting the highest levels of self-control are affected by it when deciding on a saving account or a personal loan. These outcomes have numerous significant implications, in addition to providing recommendations to policy makers aimed at engaging millennials in healthier financial behaviors.

Keywords: Self-control; Financial behavior; Financial attitudes; Financial literacy; Spain; Millennial generation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:soceco:v:93:y:2021:i:c:s2214804321000422

DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2021.101702

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