Do Opposites Detract? Intrahousehold Preference Heterogeneity and Inefficient Strategic Savings

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Schaner, Simone
• 署名单位: Dartmouth College
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20130271
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 135-174
• 关键词: time-preferences; field experiment; household; discount; BEHAVIOR; GENDER; allocation; RESOURCES; efficient; access

摘要

This paper uses a field experiment to test whether intrahousehold heterogeneity in discount factors leads to inefficient strategic savings behavior. I gave married couples in rural Kenya the opportunity to open both joint and individual bank accounts at randomly assigned interest rates. I also directly elicited discount factors for all individuals in the experiment. Couples who are well matched on discount factors are less likely to use costly individual accounts and respond robustly to relative rates of return between accounts, while their poorly matched peers do not. Consequently, poorly matched couples forgo significantly more interest earnings on their savings.