The Effect of COVID-19 on Subjective Financial Well-Being

We conducted two studies investigating how financial well-being was affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Across both studies conducted in Sweden, we find that COVID-19 was associated with an overall improvement in subjective financial well-being. The positive effect was driven by a general decline in anxiety toward current financial matters, while financial security with regard to the future declined (Study 1) or was unaffected (Study 2). These results might seem paradoxical. But we propose two explanations: (a) People have a limited ability to worry about two things at the same time. Financial problems might therefore be less emotionally salient in the face of more urgent nonfinancial problems, and (b) Some people likely experienced an initial slack in their household finances due to decreased spending opportunities at the onset of COVID-19, which to some extent could counteract increased worry about future financial security.