Replication data for: Why Do Defaults Affect Behavior? Experimental Evidence from Afghanistan

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Joshua Blumenstock; Michael Callen; Tarek Ghani

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
figures			12/07/2019 08:10:AM
unformatted-tables			12/07/2019 08:10:AM
unformatted-tables-w-fe			12/07/2019 08:10:AM
Additional-Statistics.do	text/plain	966 bytes	12/07/2019 03:10:AM
README.rtf	text/rtf	69.7 KB	12/07/2019 03:10:AM
figure3.do	text/plain	1.9 KB	12/07/2019 03:10:AM
figure4.do	text/plain	3 KB	12/07/2019 03:10:AM
figure_a3_a4.do	text/plain	776 bytes	12/07/2019 03:10:AM
mpaz_master_NATIVE.dta	application/octet-stream	1.1 MB	12/07/2019 03:10:AM
table1.do	text/plain	3.7 KB	12/07/2019 03:10:AM

Project Description

Summary: We report on an experiment examining why default options impact behavior. By randomly assigning employees to different varieties of a salary-linked savings account, we find that default enrollment increases participation by 40 percentage points—an effect equivalent to providing a 50% matching incentive. We then use a series of experimental interventions to differentiate between explanations for the default effect, which we conclude is driven largely by present-biased preferences and the cognitive cost of thinking through different savings scenarios. Default assignment also changes employees' attitudes toward saving, and makes them more likely to actively decide to save after the study concludes.

Scope of Project

JEL Classification:
      C93 Field Experiments
      D14 Household Saving; Personal Finance
      D91 Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
      O12 Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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Published Versions

V1 [2019-12-07]

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