Abstract for: Dynamics of Consumerism and Credit Card Debt under the Influence of Advertising

Consumerism and persistent personal debts as a result of extensive use of credit cards under the influence of advertising is addressed in this paper. A system dynamics simulation model related to consumption behavior of middle-income people in Turkey under the influence of advertising is constructed. Debt, excessive spending, and 'consumption satisfaction' dynamics are investigated via policy and scenario analysis. The results show that i) restricted maximum credit card limit can be an effective policy to prevent high debts but, in the long run, the policy may result in more 'unsatisfied' people ii) in order to provide considerable decrease in debt and increase in satisfaction, average advertising frequency should be reduced substantially iii) a hybrid scenario combining maximum credit card limit policy and reduced advertising frequency scenario is shown to be beneficial for individuals, lowering debts, without sacrificing consumption satisfaction.