Government’s Stimulus Program to Boost Consumer Spending: A Case of Discount Shopping Coupon Scheme in Japan

Abstract

The unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19 has triggered a worldwide economic recession. Consequently, governments are pursuing different stimulus packages to alleviate the resulting pressures. This study examines one such program intended to enhance consumer spending during an economic downturn. In 2015, the Japanese government implemented a discount shopping coupon scheme, offering a 20% discount on purchases. This study aims to identify the groups of consumers who responded most to the discount shopping coupon scheme. To this end, we examine the demographic and socio-economic factors associated with the purchasers of discount shopping coupons in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. Using IV probit models, we show that middle-aged people, homemakers, household balance of financial assets, and short-term attitude are positively associated with the purchase of the coupons. Financial literacy reflects a negative association with the purchase of the coupons for respondents over the age of 40, whereas household income shows a positive association for middle-aged respondents. Our results imply that programs designed to improve consumer consumption may not be effective as blanket solutions that are applied to everyone indiscriminately, but rather seem to show efficiency when tailored to different people according to their demographic and/or socio-economic characteristics.