May 9, 2008

Coye Cheshire Discusses the Cultural Experience of the Tax Rebate, in the Sacramento Bee

From the Sacramento Bee
May 9, 2008

Web site gives you chance to reveal stimulus-check plans
By Claudia Buck

Until this week, it's been purely speculation where 130 million Americans will plunk down their not-so-hard-earned stimulus checks....

Economists, government officials and others have been doing plenty of head-scratching in anticipation of just how — or whether — people will spend those $600 or $1,200 checks.

Now there's a place to tell the world exactly where you're spending the windfall.

It's at www.howispentmystimulus.com....

What would inspire people to share tales with strangers about ... a government check?

Bonding over "a shared cultural event" like this isn't surprising, said Coye Cheshire, a social scientist in the University of California, Berkeley, School of Information. "A lot of Americans are getting a check. People feel they're part of something that's a shared experience, even if it's fleeting."...

Read more...

This story also appeared in:

Last updated: October 4, 2016