About
PhD topic: The Behavioural Economics of Buy-Now-Pay-Later: Consumer Welfare and Environmental Implications
PhD supervisors: Dr Kate Laffan and Professor Liam Delaney
Katie Taylor is a PhD candidate in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, supervised by Kate Laffan and Liam Delaney. Her research examines how Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) credit products affect consumer welfare, financial decision-making, and the environmental sustainability of consumption patterns. She draws on behavioural economics and psychology to investigate the mechanisms through which BNPL may distort spending perceptions, undermine financial self-regulation, and erode sustainable consumption intentions.
Katie's thesis examines BNPL's welfare implications at two levels. At the individual level, she investigates how BNPL's design features shape financial decision-making, with particular attention to variation within individuals across consumption contexts. At the societal level, she examines whether BNPL contributes to value-action gaps among environmentally motivated consumers. She is currently conducting a funded longitudinal consumption diary study investigating BNPL's relationship to unsustainable consumption patterns and present-biased decision-making.
Prior to her PhD, Katie worked in public affairs and policy consulting. She holds an MSc in Behavioural Science from LSE and dual first-class honours degrees in Economics and Marketing from Lehigh University, with minors in International Relations, Cognitive Science, and International Business.