Debtors at Play: Gaming Behavior and Consumer Credit Risk.

This article investigates how impulsivity, proxied by individual video gaming behavior, influences consumer financial decisions following a relaxation of credit constraints, specifically after receiving a credit card. Using a unique high-frequency dataset from a large Chinese financial firm covering over 80,000 credit card applicants, the study constructs incentive-compatible measures of impulsivity based on gaming expenditures and frequency in the 30 days prior to credit card application. The findings reveal that higher precard gaming intensity is strongly associated with increased probabilities of credit card default, greater postcard spending on luxury and addictive items, immediate surges in consumption after card receipt, and rapid debt accumulation. These relationships persist after controlling for demographics, income, education, financial literacy, and overall spending propensity, and are further supported by analyses of gaming timing, volatility, and the diversity of game apps installed. The results align with neurological and behavioral theories linking excessive gaming to impulse control deficiencies and suggest that impulsivity significantly shapes borrowing and spending behaviors when liquidity constraints are eased.