Purpose – Until now, traditional western consumption theories have not been able to adequately explain the consumption behavior of Chinese residents in the economic transitional period. Based on annual data from 1986 to 2004, the purpose of this paper is to examine the excess sensitivity of...

Purpose – The paper aims to examine the consumption behavior of Chinese residents during economic transition. It explores whether Western theories of consumption are applicable to the Chinese situation, and then tests the hypothesis based on Chinese traditional culture and dynamic nature of...