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Getting to the Top of Mind: How Reminders Increase Saving


Dean S. Karlan


Yale University

Margaret McConnell


Harvard University

Sendhil Mullainathan


Harvard University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Jonathan Zinman


Dartmouth College; Innovations for Poverty Action; Jameel Poverty Action Lab; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
July 1, 2010

Yale University Economic Growth Center Discussion Paper No. 988
Yale Economics Department Working Paper No. 82

Abstract:     
We develop and test a simple model of limited attention in intertemporal choice. The model posits that individuals fully attend to consumption in all periods but fail to attend to some future lumpy expenditure opportunities. This asymmetry generates some predictions that overlap with models of present-bias. Our model also generates the unique predictions that reminders may increase saving, and that reminders will be more effective when they increase the salience of a specific expenditure. We find support for these predictions in three field experiments that randomly assign reminders to new savings account holders.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 41

Keywords: Intertemporal Consumer Choice, Savings, Attention

JEL Classification: D91, E21

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Date posted: July 12, 2010  

Suggested Citation

Karlan, Dean S., McConnell, Margaret, Mullainathan, Sendhil and Zinman, Jonathan, Getting to the Top of Mind: How Reminders Increase Saving (July 1, 2010). Yale University Economic Growth Center Discussion Paper No. 988; Yale Economics Department Working Paper No. 82. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1636817 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1636817

Contact Information

Dean S. Karlan (Contact Author)
Yale University ( email )
Box 208269
New Haven, CT 06520-8269
United States
Margaret McConnell
Harvard University ( email )
1875 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
Sendhil Mullainathan
Harvard University - Department of Economics ( email )
Littauer Center
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
617-496-2720 (Phone)
617-495-7730 (Fax)
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )
1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
617-588-1473 (Phone)
617-876-2742 (Fax)
Jonathan Zinman
Dartmouth College ( email )
Hanover, NH 03755
United States
603-646-0075 (Phone)
HOME PAGE: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~jzinman/
Innovations for Poverty Action
New Haven, CT
United States
Jameel Poverty Action Lab
E60-246
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
United States
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
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