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Millennials are known in some circles as not wanting to spend any money on anything. They live with their parents, they buy brandless goods at cheaper prices, and many times they would prefer to take an Uber than buy a car of their own. But this characterization of Millennial spending habits may be misconstrued. New research from the Fed indicates that Millennials may have all the same desire to spend as their parents, but simply can’t afford it.

Bloomberg’s Jeremy Herron and Luke Kawa report:

Millennials, long presumed to have less interest in the nonstop consumption of goods that underpins the American economy, might not be that different after all, a new study from the Federal Reserve says.

Their spending habits are a lot like the generations that came before them, they just have less money at this point in their lives, the Fed study found. The group born between 1981 and 1997 has fallen behind because many of them came of age during the financial crisis.

“We find little evidence that millennial households have tastes and preference for consumption that are lower than those of earlier generations, once the effects of age, income, and a wide range of demographic characteristics are taken into account,” wrote authors Christopher Kurz, Geng Li and Daniel J. Vine.

Read more here, and read the full report below.

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