[Vintila]

I'd add a caveat to point 1, it is only a huge saving if you were going to buy whatever it is anyway.

Has anyone done studies on the effects of cashback on consumer behavior?

[muninn_]

I wouldn't be surprised to see that it increases overall spending. For me it's like second nature. I don't even think about the cash back. It's more like, oh I'm eating out, need to use the 3% cash back for dining card.

[digi_owl]

While straight cash is not something i have heard of locally, i know that frequent flier points got a bad rap because it was found to be market distorting.