Increasing Enrollment in Income-Driven Student Loan Repayment Plans: Evidence from the Navient Field Experiment

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mueller, Holger; Yannelis, Constantine
• 署名单位: National Bureau of Economic Research; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; European Corporate Governance Institute; University of Chicago
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1082
• DOI: 10.1111/jofi.13088
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 367-402
• 关键词: BEHAVIORAL-ECONOMICS; Take-up; consumption; debt; college; WEALTH; POLICY; borrowers

摘要

We report evidence from a randomized field experiment conducted by a major student loan servicer, Navient, in which student loan borrowers received prepopulated applications for income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. Treatment increased IDR enrollment by 34 percentage points relative to the control group. Using the random treatment assignment as an instrument for IDR enrollment, we furthermore provide local average treatment effect (LATE) estimates of the effects of IDR enrollment on new delinquencies, monthly student loan payments, and consumer spending. Our study is the first field-experimental evaluation of a U.S. government program designed to address the soaring debt burdens of U.S. households.