Doom spending and the era of financial emotional precariousness (Podcast)

 

 Doom spending and the era of financial emotional precariousness

Insolvency today extends far beyond its traditional legal definition. It has become a cultural, emotional, and technological expression of a generation navigating structural precarity, economic volatility, and the pervasive influence of algorithmic personalization. Financial behaviour—once framed as a rational and calculable domain—is increasingly shaped by affective responses mediated through digital ecosystems that anticipate desires, segment vulnerabilities, and promote consumption oriented toward immediacy.

Within this environment, doom spending has emerged as a distinctive generational pattern: an emotionally driven form of consumption rooted in the perception of an uncertain or diminishing future. Rather than an isolated behavioural anomaly, it reflects a collective response to climate anxiety, digital overexposure, and persistent economic instability. The interaction between prediction markets, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) models, and algorithmic segmentation creates a landscape in which emotional fragility becomes a central determinant of financial risk.

This paper argues that contemporary insolvency must be understood through an expanded lens that incorporates symbolic, psychological, and affective dimensions. To that end, it introduces the concept of financial emotional precariousness, a framework that captures the emotional and cognitive vulnerabilities embedded in digital consumption environments. The analysis also highlights the limitations of traditional bankruptcy law in addressing fragmented micro‑debts and the opaque algorithmic mechanisms that shape impulsive financial decision‑making.

Drawing on the Canadian case and the dynamics of speculative platforms and gamified finance, the study proposes a regulatory and therapeutic‑financial approach aimed at protecting hyper‑vulnerable consumers. In an era where insolvency manifests not only in financial statements but also in the emotional architecture of individuals, understanding its causes requires an interdisciplinary perspective that bridges law, behavioural economics, and the psychology of risk. Si querés, puedo generar también una versión más breve para difusión, o una más técnica para SSRN.

Versión en español

Este enlace corresponde al resumen en audio (podcast) de un paper de mi autoría publicado en SSRN. El episodio está grabado en inglés, dado que el artículo original fue redactado en ese idioma.

El lector puede acceder al artículo completo en SSRN a través del siguiente enlace:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5722182

English version

This link refers to the audio summary (podcast) of a paper I authored and published on SSRN. The episode is recorded in English, as the original article was written in that language.

   https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DH1btlSq9h7a9f6PUu5s-frrQn7ldrZf/view?usp=sharing