Borrowing to Save? The Impact of Automatic Enrollment on Debt

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Beshears, John; Choi, James J.; Laibson, David; Madrian, Brigitte C.; Skimmyhorn, William L.
• 署名单位: Harvard University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Yale University; Brigham Young University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1082
• DOI: 10.1111/jofi.13069
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 403-447
• 关键词: Nudges; PARTICIPATION; incentives; POLICY; crowd; POWER

摘要

Does automatic enrollment into a retirement plan increase financial distress due to increased borrowing outside the plan? We study a natural experiment created when the U.S. Army began automatically enrolling newly hired civilian employees into the Thrift Savings Plan. Four years after hire, automatic enrollmentincreases cumulative contributions to the plan by 4.1% of annual salary, but we find little evidence ofincreased financial distress. Automatic enrollment causes no significant change in credit scores, debt balances excluding auto debt and first mortgages, or adverse credit outcomes, with the possible exception of increasedfirst-mortgage balances in foreclosure.