Tying Odysseus to the Mast: Evidence from a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines

Nava Ashraf (), Dean Karlan and Wesley Yin ()
Additional contact information
Nava Ashraf: Harvard University
Wesley Yin: Princeton University

Working Papers from Economic Growth Center, Yale University

Abstract: We designed a commitment savings product for a Philippine bank and implemented it using a randomized control methodology. The savings product was intended for individuals who want to commit now to restrict access to their savings, and who were sophisticated enough to engage in such a mechanism. We conducted a baseline survey on 1777 existing or former clients of a bank. One month later, we offered the commitment product to a randomly chosen subset of 710 clients; 202 (28.4 percent) accepted the offer and opened the account. In the baseline survey, we asked hypothetical time discounting questions. Women who exhibited a lower discount rate for future relative to current tradeoffs, and hence potentially have a preference for commitment, were indeed significantly more likely to open the commitment savings account. After twelve months, average savings balances increased by 81 percentage points for those clients assigned to the treatment group relative to those assigned to the control group. We conclude that the savings response represents a lasting change in savings, and not merely a short-term response to a new product.

Keywords: Savings; commitment; hyperbolic preferences; microfinance; development economics; program evaluation; field experiment; self-control (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D01 D11 D12 D14 D81 D91 G11 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2005-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-fin and nep-sea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Tying Odysseus to the Mast: Evidence From a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines (2006)
Working Paper: Tying odysseus to the mast: Evidence from a commitment savings product in the philippines (2006)
Working Paper: Tying Odysseus to the Mast: Evidence from a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines (2005)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:egc:wpaper:917

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