Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/280848 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
Working Papers No. 23-4
Publisher: 
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Boston, MA
Abstract: 
The Big Five personality traits-openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism-are widely used in understanding human behavior. Using data collected from a survey and diary of consumer payment choice, we investigate how the Big Five traits affect three financial outcomes: being unbanked, holding a credit card, and carrying credit card debt. Although each personality trait is correlated with each of the financial outcomes we examine, they mostly become statistically insignificant when we control for demographics and income in regressions. Carrying credit card debt (revolving), however, is significantly affected by conscientiousness, openness, and agreeableness: Credit card adopters who are less conscientious, more open to experiences, or more agreeable are significantly more likely to revolve credit card debt. A machine learning algorithm confirms that conscientiousness is the major factor separating revolvers from other credit cardholders.
Subjects: 
credit card debt
consumer payments
personality traits
financial behavior
unbanked
JEL: 
D12
D14
E42
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
651.18 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.