Amid a global recession and with many threatened by unemployment, the problem governments and businesses now face is getting consumers spending again. The U.S. strategy was to introduce stimulus checks, which offered cash payments to Americans who qualified.
But after seeing the Personal Saving Rate increase, some analysts suspect many opted to save these checks. Our U.S. data set shows that around a quarter of Americans expect their personal finances to worsen over the next six months, which sheds light on why this stimulus package perhaps hasn’t proved as successful as first hoped.
Some reports suggest the UK is looking to follow a similar path, with its Chancellor considering plans to give Brits vouchers to spend on businesses worst-hit by the crisis; and it’s possible that vouchers (rather than cash payments) end up being more effective.
While some feel it isn’t their duty to help businesses recover and dislike the responsibility the UK campaign (“Eat Out to Help Out”) arguably places on people, others accept that economic recovery rests on consumers engaging with the retail and hospitality sectors. The scheme, promising shoppers 50% off when they eat out between Monday and Wednesday, has already boosted the profits the profits of many struggling restaurants.