IMPACTS OF CONSUMER EXPENDITURE PATTERNS ON SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING IN CHINA: EVIDENCE FROM MICROSURVEY DATA

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of consumer expenditure patterns, rather than categories, on subjective well-being (SWB) in China. This study adopts microsurvey data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) and performs cluster analysis to form household consumer expenditure patterns for five burdens. The primary finding is that consumer expenditure patterns as well as consumer characteristics can significantly affect Chinese people’s SWB. However, the results from using consumer expenditure categories as explanatory variables are not reliable due to inconsistent results from using the amount and ratio of consumption expenditure. The conclusions regarding the influences of consumer expenditure patterns on Chinese people’s SWB are, nevertheless, robust.