The Impact Of Mobile Payment On Household Consumption Structure And Mechanism Analysis

This paper examines the impact of mobile payments on household consumption structure from a micro perspective,as well as the variability in consumption arising from different combinations of factors,Combining the survey results from authoritative departments,the data from the 2017 China Household Finance Survey,the research causes and formation mechanisms.After research found that mobile payments significantly reduce transaction costs and moderate the structure of consumption.The main manifestations are three-fold.First,mobile payments have contributed to an overall increase in household consumption levels and have had the most significant impact on subsistence consumption.This is mainly because mobile payments reduce transaction costs and reduce the impact of information asymmetries.Survival spending is characterised by frequent transactions and predominantly small transaction amounts.Mobile payments cater to the characteristics of survival spending in terms of convenience and security,enabling households to make spending decisions more quickly and thus boosting consumption.Secondly,in economically developed areas,a prosperous economy cannot do without mobile payment.Developmental consumption includes,among other things,education and training,health care,transportation and communication.At a micro level,such transactions are mainly characterised by infrequent transactions,relatively large amounts of money spent and more formal transaction scenarios compared to subsistence consumption.Security is the first consideration for households when making such transactions,rather than convenience.At the macro level,the eastern region has seen a greater prevalence of developmental consumption scenarios due to higher government investment in education and healthcare facilities and an ageing population,which in turn has contributed to developmental consumption growth.Thirdly,mobile payments have clearly boosted enjoyment spending,which mainly includes entertainment and culture,spending on consumer durables,household equipment and supplies.Such goods and services are larger in value and mobile payments facilitate such spending by increasing household credit capacity and easing liquidity constraints.The study also found that financial literacy plays a moderating role in enjoyment-based consumption,more so in economically developed regions.This is because economically developed regions,where household asset allocation channels are more abundant and residents have higher expectations for financial returns,are increasing their enjoyment-based consumption expenditure.