Good God! Religious Grocery Shoppers Are Better Savers

[StressLess]

via the Coupons in the News blog

http://couponsinthenews.com/2018/08/03/good-god-religious-grocery-shoppers-are-better-savers/

Summary of an upcoming article in an academic journal that's behind a paywall.


"people who live in more religious U.S. counties spend less money on groceries and make fewer unplanned purchases”



And they say the trend holds true even for non-religious people who live in those counties. They even did a test that indicated just triggering thoughts about God (having people watch a video) made people spend less, even if they weren't religious.



The problem I have with this is, what is the average income and cost of living in those religious counties relative to other areas? I mean, are the people in those counties just spending less because they are poor or the cost of living there is lower? They don't seem to say in this article, and I'm not paying for the journal article to find out.


But the whole concept is kind of intriguing.

[disneysteve]

Spend less than what? And are they measuring the absolute number or as a percentage of disposable income? Does it matter which religion they are talking about? And how do they determine if a county is "more religious"? Is that based on some sort of self-reported survey, attendance at religious services, membership at a synagogue, or what?

If anyone has access to the study, it would be interesting to see their methodology and conclusions.

[disneysteve]

https://hbr.org/2018/07/shoppers-with-strong-religious-beliefs-spend-less-and-make-fewer-impulse-purchases

Here's more info on the studies and results.

[bjl584]

Interesting.

I'm not sure if I see a correlation though. A lot of religions preach frugality and minimalism, so that could contribute.

[disneysteve]

I'm not sure if I see a correlation though. A lot of religions preach frugality and minimalism, so that could contribute.

I think that's exactly the correlation they are talking about.

[snafu]

So can you tie Dave Ramsey's success with Financial Peace University with the fact that the program is always delivered in church halls?

[bjl584]

So can you tie Dave Ramsey's success with Financial Peace University with the fact that the program is always delivered in church halls?

There might be something to that. He definitely has a target audience that he caters to, and he is funneling his products through a specific channel. The formula works well for him.

[disneysteve]

So can you tie Dave Ramsey's success with Financial Peace University with the fact that the program is always delivered in church halls?

Definitely. His plan totally has religious undertones. He quotes scripture all the time. That’s one thing that turns off a lot of people who don’t share his religion.

[scfr]

The fact that the video was of a man in a suit & tie referencing "God" makes it seem as if it was geared only towards certain religions.
What effect does anger, or feeling excluded, have on shopping habits?