Under-savers anonymous
Subtitle: evidence on self-help groups and peer pressure as a savings commitment device
By: Felipe Kast, Stephan Meier, Dina Pomeranz
Contributors: Meier, Stephan, author; Pomeranz, Dina, author; Harvard Business School
Edition: Revised edition
Series: Working paper / Harvard Business School -- 12-060; Working paper (Harvard Business School) -- 12-060
Publisher: Harvard Business School
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Boston]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 48
Description: We test the effectiveness of self-help peer groups as a commitment device for precautionary savings, through two randomized field experiments among 2,687 Chilean micro-entrepreneurs. The first experiment finds that self-help peer groups are a powerful tool to increase savings (the number of deposits grows 3.7-fold and the average savings balance almost doubles). In contrast, a more classical measure, a substantially increased interest rate, has no effect for most participants. A second experiment tests an alternative delivery mechanism and shows that effects of similar size can be achieved by holding people accountable through feedback text messages, without meetings or peer pressure.
Notes: "January 2012. (Revised June 2014. Featured by Time, Business Insider, Freakonomics, Wall Street Journal, Yahoo! Finance, and others.)" -- Publisher's website.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 27-30).