By Shawn DuBravac, the CEA Economist

In February, the U.S. approved a fiscal stimulus plan and it looks like Spain has taken note – recently approving their own fiscal stimulus plan. In the US, these tax rebate checks will begin hitting mailboxes in May. Our research suggests that one fifth of U.S. consumers will spend some portion of their rebate checks on consumer electronics and that consumers will allocate these checks to spending or savings relatively quickly.

Many retailers are looking for ways to get into the mix. Sears and Kmart recently announced a 10 percent bonus to any consumers who convert their rebate checks into gift cards. I’m sure it will only be a matter of time before other retailers announce their own promotional plans in hopes of steering some of the $112 billion in rebate checks in their direction.

What are you planning to do with your rebate check?

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 3:44 pm and is filed under Consumer Research, Economics. Reply to this post, or trackback from your own site. Follow responses to this entry through the comments RSS feed.