|
Field
Abstract
|
Before
What is the consumption, debt and balance sheet response to increased savings? The budget constraint requires that every dollar saved should decrease consumption (or increase debt). Do individuals cut on groceries or human capital investments in response to increased savings? Do minimum savings requirements such as IRAs decrease liquidity and induce expensive borrowing through credit cards? This project revisits such foundational questions on the consumption/savings interplay in the retirement savings context. We propose a research design that would allow to answer these questions directly via a field experiment in a European financial institution. Through a large local financial institution, we randomly nudge a few thousand individuals via a phone solicitation to increase their savings through a retirement savings account, and track their consumption, debt and balance sheet responses.
|
After
This paper studies the consumption, debt and balance sheet response to increased savings. The budget constraint requires that every dollar saved should decrease consumption (or increase debt). Do individuals cut on groceries or human capital investments in response to increased savings? Do minimum savings requirements such as IRAs decrease liquidity and induce expensive borrowing through credit cards? We revisit such foundational questions on the consumption/savings interplay in the retirement savings context, and propose a research design that would allow to answer these questions directly via a field experiment in a European financial institution. Through a large local financial institution, we randomly exclude a few thousand individuals from a phone solicitation to increase their savings through a retirement savings account, and track their consumption, debt and balance sheet responses.
|
|
Field
Last Published
|
Before
March 29, 2015 01:34 PM
|
After
March 29, 2015 01:46 PM
|
|
Field
Intervention (Public)
|
Before
We work jointly with a financial institution in Turkey that offers a multitude of financial accounts, including savings accounts, credit cards and IRAs. A unique feature of the environment is that more than 40% of household expenditures, including IRA contributions, are made with credit cards. In order to increase observability, we focus on the subset of customers that make their IRA contributions with their credit cards. The financial institution periodically phone calls existing customers to nudge them to increase their savings; we exclude a control group of 12000 over the course of four months to receive an intervention.
|
After
We work jointly with a financial institution in Europe that offers a multitude of financial accounts, including savings accounts, credit cards and IRAs. A unique feature of the environment is that more than 40% of household expenditures, including IRA contributions, are made with credit cards. In order to increase observability, we focus on the subset of customers that make their IRA contributions with their credit cards. The financial institution periodically phone calls existing customers to nudge them to increase their savings; we exclude a control group of 12,000 over the course of four months from receiving a phone call.
|
|
Field
Primary Outcomes (End Points)
|
Before
The main outcome variable of interest is the consumption response in different sectors. Secondarily, we are also interested in the change in credit card debt and other balance sheet effects, such as savings in non-IRA accounts.
|
After
The main outcome variable of interest is the consumption response in 18 sectors, i.e. retail, groceries, insurance etc. We often group these into durables, nondurables and services. Secondarily, we are also interested in the change in credit card debt and other balance sheet effects, such as durable accumulation and savings in non-IRA accounts.
|
|
Field
Experimental Design (Public)
|
Before
The financial institution serves 400,000 IRA contracts. About 10,000-15,000 of these contracts are nudged via a phone call to increase their savings by the company. About 10,000-15,000 of these contracts are nudged via a phone call to increase their savings by the company. Experiment participants are chosen to be the sole owner/payer of their IRA contracts. We then oversample three groups of customers: 1) those that have wage information 2) those that participate in an ongoing parallel credit card experiment 3) those that do not have a credit card from another bank. Finally, we exclude 3000 individuals from the individuals to be called.
|
After
The financial institution serves 400,000 IRA contracts. Every month, 10,000-15,000 of these contracts are nudged via a phone call to increase their savings by the company. Experiment participants are chosen to be the sole owners/payers of their IRA contracts. We then oversample three groups of customers: 1) those with wage information, 2) those that participate in an ongoing parallel credit card experiment, and 3) those that do not have a credit card from another bank. Finally, we determine 3000 individuals by a coin flip, and remove them from the individuals to be called.
|