This article explores South Korean “thrift” television by examining Homo Economicus (EBS), a reality TV show that challenged participants to save ten thousand dollars in six months with guidance from financial advisors. Situating thrift television within the broader sociohistorical context of the long recession after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, I show how Homo Economicus suggested frugality as a way of life in a time of precarity and economic polarization by providing techniques of compulsory thrift and turning participants into aspirational savers. Gendered narratives of consumption played a pivotal role in the process and the program took millennial women as its main target of intervention. Gendered thrift television exemplifies the ways media culture problematizes women’s consumption while failing to address structural gender inequality. I also discuss the close relation between thrift television and online financial communities that served as a crucial space where thrift television found its financial experts.

本文通过考察Homo Economicus（EBS）来探索韩国的“节俭”电视，这是一部真人秀电视节目，该节目挑战参与者在财务顾问的指导下在六个月内节省一万美元。我在1997年亚洲金融危机后，在长期衰退的更广泛社会历史背景下放置了节俭电视，我展示了经济人建议在节俭和经济两极分化的时代，节俭是一种生活方式，方法是提供强制性节俭技术，并将参与者变成有抱负的储蓄者。性别的消费叙事在这一过程中起着关键作用，该计划将千禧一代妇女作为其主要干预目标。性别平等的节俭电视可以说明媒体文化如何使妇女的消费问题化，同时又无法解决结构性的性别不平等问题。我还讨论了节俭电视与在线金融社区之间的紧密联系，后者是节俭电视找到其金融专家的关键空间。