Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) for European countries - relation to objective household financial situation

Objectives The Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) has been constructed in order to measure consumer attitudes. Its construction takes into account not only the assessment of the current financial and economic situation in the country and the current level of savings, but also the expectations of consumers with regard to the above-mentioned areas of life and the management of financial resources. The objectives of the article are (1) to test and select the components contributing to the consumer confidence index by proposing a new approach to its calculation and (2) to test the links between consumer sentiment and the level of financial instruments held by European households. Material and methods The modelling was carried out using data on the components of the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) for the countries of the European Union and data on the financial situation of households. The data were taken from the Eurostat database. The analysis period covers the period 2015-2022, depending on data availability. Results The results presented in this study indicate a statistically significant relationship between the subjective assessment of household finances and the actual financial situation of households. The analysis carried out made it possible to select the components that make up the consumer confidence index and to propose a new approach to its calculation. The study of the impact of the individual components of the CCI therefore constitutes a very important area of research crucial for modelling economic phenomena. Conclusions Based on the available literature, we can conclude that the issue of household financial well-being is a complex, multidimensional phenomenon. Relying solely on objective monetary factors does not allow us to identify the main determinants of household financial behaviour.