Gender Differences in Reaction to Enforcement Mechanisms: A Large-Scale Natural Field Experiment

Difang Huang and Zhengyang Bao

No 08-20, Monash Economics Working Papers from Monash University, Department of Economics

Abstract: We followed 58,345 borrowers from a peer-to-peer lending platform to study how females and males react to enforcement mechanisms differently. In the experiment, borrowers were randomized into treatments where they received different text messages urging for timely repayment if they had loans due the “next day”. Compared to a reminder message, the messages inducing social pressures and financial incentives reduced the overdue rate for both genders. However, females were more responsive to messages producing social pressures, while males were more responsive to financial incentives. The results imply the potential importance of a gender-dependent mechanism to enhance compliance.

Keywords: Gender differences; Natural field experiment; Enforcement mechanism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D91 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2020-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-gen and nep-hrm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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