Competition as a savings incentive: A field experiment at a homeless shelter

Sera Linardi () and Tomomi Tanaka

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2013, vol. 95, issue C, 240-251

Abstract: This paper describes a randomized field experiment testing the impact of a savings competition on the behavior of homeless individuals staying at a transitional shelter. When monetary prizes were offered for achieving the highest saving rates within a particular month, average savings increased by $80 (a 30% increase in savings rate) while income and attendance at case management meetings remained unchanged. However, repeating the competition in the following month had no effect because responsive savers selected out of the shelter after the first month. In summary, while a savings competition can increase savings in the short run, its effect may be limited to the intensive margin and may diminish with repetition.

Keywords: Field experiment; Savings; Income; Competition; Poverty; Social services; Homelessness; Time inconsistency; Participation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D91 I3 J1 L3 Z18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016726811200217X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: Competition as a Savings Incentive: a Field Experiment at a Homeless Shelter (2013)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:95:y:2013:i:c:p:240-251

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2012.10.012

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization is currently edited by Houser, D. and Puzzello, D.

More articles in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().