Consumer voucher

Consumer coupons (also use checks ) are vouchers that the citizens are issued for the purpose of purchase of consumer goods or to pay bills by craftswomen.

aims

The aim of a consumer voucher issued by the state is to give citizens more money in the short term to buy goods and thereby stimulate the economy again.

Pros and cons of consumer vouchers

The issue of consumer vouchers could be used to stimulate the economy . Your advantage is a direct increase in income for the recipient of the check. It is assumed that this increase in purchasing power leads to an increase in consumption. Since this represents around 60% of Germany's gross domestic product, proponents believe that the domestic economy could be boosted quickly after the vouchers were issued.

Economists argue that, unlike tax cuts, consumer vouchers would mainly reach citizens of lower income groups who, statistically speaking, save little and spend their money quickly. These low and normal earners would benefit little from tax breaks. In addition, this measure would only burden the state budget once.

Critics, on the other hand, complain that the effect of the consumer vouchers could quickly fizzle out and result in a “flash in the pan”. It is also difficult to prevent many citizens from saving all or part of the additional money instead of spending it. The actual purpose of the “voucher campaign” would then be missed.

Opponents of the vouchers also argue that the effect of the rise in consumption is not limited to the domestic economy. Consumers will use the checks to buy not only domestic but also imported goods. Government spending would thus also benefit foreign producers.

Furthermore, since stimulating consumption is an instrument of demand-oriented economic policy , no economic policy problems can be solved if these are supply-determined .