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Registration

Field Before After
Trial Status on_going completed
Last Published April 16, 2018 08:16 AM April 08, 2025 11:36 AM
Study Withdrawn No
Intervention Completion Date December 01, 2016
Data Collection Complete Yes
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization) 4028 individuals
Was attrition correlated with treatment status? No
Is there a restricted access data set available on request? No
Program Files No
Is data available for public use? No
Keyword(s) Finance Finance
Building on Existing Work No
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Papers

Field Before After
Paper Abstract We use a large-scale randomized control trial to evaluate information interventions to motivate savings in a mostly unbanked population. We find positive impacts of personalized SMSs on savings during the messaging period and larger than existing studies. However, they fade away after messaging stops, like in other experiments. Compared to the existing literature, we can better identify the sources of that effect. Personalized SMSs are not more likely to be received or more memorable. Highlighting a specific monetary goal appears to be more effective than tangibility. Also, salience or personalization separately do little to increase the intensive margin of savings. Heterogeneous effects are consistent with limited attention co-existing with other behavioral biases; for groups where reactance and frustration play a role, those are overcome only when personalized SMSs are employed.
Paper Citation Viviane Azevedo, Jeanne Lafortune, Liliana Olarte, José Tessada, Personalizing or reminding? How to better incentivize savings among underbanked individuals, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Volume 222, 2024, Pages 25-63, ISSN 0167-2681, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2024.04.005
Paper URL https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167268124001409
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