Financial Decision Making
Paper Session
Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021 3:45 PM - 5:45 PM (EST)
- Chair: Michael Gelman, Claremont McKenna College
Mind the App: Mobile Access to Financial Information and Consumer Behavior
Abstract
We use transaction data from an account aggregation company to study the impact of access to personal financial information from mobile devices on consumer behavior. We study consumers who installed the mobile app after using the app from a PC for several months. We utilize the gradual release of the app on different devices (iPhone, iPad, and Android) to establish a causal relationship. Consistent with rational inattention models, we find that consumers increase their login frequency, especially during retail peak hours, and cut discretionary spending. Consistent with information-dependent utility models, these effects are stronger among lower-income and high-spending-to-income consumers.How Much to Save? Decision Costs and Retirement Plan Participation
Abstract
Deciding how much to save for retirement can be complicated. Drawing on a fieldexperiment conducted with the Department of Defense, we study whether such complexity
depresses participation in an employer-sponsored retirement saving plan. We
find that simplifying one dimension of the enrollment decision, by highlighting a potential
rate at which non-participants might contribute, increases participation in the plan.
Similar communications that did not include a highlighted rate yield smaller effects.
The results highlight how reducing complexity on the intensive margin of a decision
(how much to contribute) can spill over into extensive margin behavior (whether to
contribute at all).
Whisper Words of Wisdom: How Financial Counseling Can Reduce Delinquency in Consumer Loans
Abstract
We study the impact of a financial counseling service provided by SMS, that includes images and videos, to low-income clients of a public bank. Using a randomized experiment in Chile, we show that individuals in a group randomly chosen to receive messages about how to prevent and face shocks, and how to face present bias and social comparison, are less likely to default to consumer loans in the short run. We also randomized the provision of an additional message about concrete and practical options offered by the bank that individuals could take when they are at risk of defaulting, resulting in a decrease in the probability of delinquency. The estimated effect for both treatment groups is a decrease in the loan delinquency probability between 20 and 26%. We also study heterogeneous impacts according to gender, age and the baseline probability of delinquency.Trust in Finance and Consumer FinTech Adoption
Abstract
We study the impact of trust in traditional finance on the consumer adoption of various fintech products, including cryptocurrencies, peer-to-peer lending, other crowdfunding, roboadvisors, and alternative payment solutions. A representative survey of Dutch households shows that lower trust in banks is associated with potentially slightly higher adoption of cryptocurrencies, lower adoption of non-bank payment systems, and has no noticeable link to the use of crowdfunding. We then conduct an experiment on Amazon’s MTurk platform in which we prime users to temporarily distrust financial institutions. Despite the priming appearing effective in reducing trust in banks, we find no effect on the interest of consumers to adopt any of the categories of products. Our results suggest that, contrary to anecdotal evidence, trust in traditional finance is not an important driver of fintech adoption. This is consistent with a view that consumers do not view fintech as being ”finance” but instead something else.The Equilibrium Effect of Information in Consumer Credit Markets: Public Records and Credit Redistribution
Abstract
Information in credit reports determines the availability and cost of credit and impacts many other areas of consumer's lives. Yet relatively little is known about what happens to consumers and the market equilibrium when the information contained in credit reports changes. We use the nationwide purge of non-bankruptcy public records from credit reports that took place in July 2017 to estimate the individual and equilibrium effects of information removal in consumer credit markets. We develop a model that implies that consumers who did not have a public record prior to the purge lost more distinguishing information in the purge if they were in a submarket with a higher share of consumers with a public record. Empirically, we find three different effects on the market: (1) Using the exogenous removal of non-bankruptcy public records during the purge and the aging off of public records before the purge, we find that credit increased by 4.8 percent for the 17 percent of low-credit-score consumers losing a public record, but debt increased contemporaneously for these consumers. (2) Overall, the remaining 83 percent of low-credit-score consumers did not see sizable changes in credit. (3) However, among the latter consumers, there was substantial redistribution of credit from credit score bins with more public record exposure to credit score bins with less exposure, and typically higher credit scores. Combined, the estimates suggest a modest increase in credit overall, but substantial and predominantly regressive redistribution.JEL Classifications
- G5 - Household Finance