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Article: Credit card use and abuse: a Veblenian analysis.
- Article from:
- Journal of Economic Issues
- Article date:
- June 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Association for Evolutionary Economics. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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There is an overwhelming amount of consumer credit card debt in the United States. Revolving credit card debt is close to $900 billion, and has increased at an average annual rate of almost nine percent over the past ten years. The average United States household has eight credit cards, which are used to charge nearly $2 trillion in goods and services annually. This became possible when an institutional failure led to reduced regulations on credit card lending. Consumers, for their part, have borrowed heavily using credit cards. Frequently, consumers use credit cards inappropriately and spend beyond their means accumulating inessentials that they cannot reasonably afford. ...