“…Although consensus on whether payday loans help or harm consumers remains elusive, the empirical findings can be summarized into two categories: (1) welfare improving by smoothing income and expenditure shocks (e.g., Karlan & Zinman, 2010;Morgan & Strain, 2008;Morse, 2011;B. Wilson, Findlay, Meehan, Welford, & Schurter, 2010;Zinman, 2010) and (2) welfare deteriorating by exacerbating financial distress (e.g., D. Campbell, Martinez-Jerez, & Tufano, 2008;Carrell & Zinman, 2008;Han & Li, 2011;Melzer, 2011;Skiba & Tobacman, 2011). Table 1 contains descriptions of data, major variables and findings, and impacts on consumer welfare of each of the studies reviewed under this section.…”