We test the effectiveness of self-help peer groups as a commitment device for precautionary savings, through two … randomized field experiments among 2,687 microentrepreneurs in Chile. The first experiment finds that self-help peer groups are a … powerful tool to increase savings (the number of deposits grows 3.5-fold and the average savings balance almost doubles …

savings ("excess savings") and a small but persistent current account deficit (a slow-motion "twin deficit"). These patterns …

We provide a simple framework connecting the distribution of excess savings across households to the dynamics of … aggregate demand. Deficit-financed fiscal transfers generate excess savings. The poorest households with the highest MPCs spend … down their excess savings the fastest, increasing other households' incomes and their excess savings. This leads to a long …

Can patent protection and product market competition complement each other in enhancing incentives to innovate? In this … positively to the product market reform in industries of countries where patent rights are strong, not where these are weak. The … positive response to the reform is more pronounced in industries in which innovators rely more on patenting than in other …

incentives that were implemented as part of the overhaul of U.S. welfare policy during the mid-1990s on the saving of households … public officials, such policies are predicted to increase total savings for those households who have a large ex …