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Registration

Field Before After
Trial Title Mental Accounting and Savings Decisions of the Poor Cash in hand and savings decisions
Trial Status on_going completed
Last Published December 30, 2020 05:19 AM July 05, 2023 11:03 AM
Study Withdrawn No
Data Collection Complete Yes
Keyword(s) Finance Finance
Building on Existing Work No
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Papers

Field Before After
Paper Abstract Spantig (2021): Cash in hand and saving decisions. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization (2021), 188: 1206-1220.
Paper Citation Cash is an important means of transaction, generally assumed to be fungible. However, behavioral economics and consumer research show that ‘cash in hand’, physically holding on to cash and then handing it away, affects purchasing decisions. I study how cash in hand influences decisions in a different, but very important domain: savings. Savings accounts are a promising tool for reducing poverty, but the use of savings accounts is often puzzlingly low. Holding on to cash that needs to be physically deposited into a savings account may increase the psychological costs of saving. This study experimentally identifies the causal effect of cash in hand on savings deposits of female microfinance clients in the Philippines. In contrast to many laboratory and several field studies with similar interventions, I do not find reduced savings deposits due to cash in hand.
Paper URL https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2021.06.008
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