Working Paper: NBER ID: w29027
Authors: Scott R. Baker; Lorenz Kueng
Abstract: The growth of the availability and use of detailed household financial transaction microdata has dramatically expanded the ability of researchers to understand both household decision-making as well as aggregate fluctuations across a wide range of fields. This class of transaction data is derived from a myriad of sources including financial institutions, FinTech apps, and payment intermediaries. We review how these detailed data have been utilized in finance and economics research and the benefits they enable beyond more traditional measures of income, spending, and wealth. We discuss the future potential for this flexible class of data in firm-focused research, real-time policy analysis, and macro statistics.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: C81; D14; G5; H31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| detailed household financial transaction data (G50) | understanding of consumption behavior (D10) |
| detailed household financial transaction data (G50) | understanding of household decision-making (D10) |
| income fluctuations (D31) | household behaviors (D10) |
| government policy changes (O24) | household behaviors (D10) |
| predictable income (G12) | spending behavior (D12) |
| income receipt (E25) | increase in spending (H59) |