The recent expansion of digital financial products leads to severe consumer protection issues such as fraud and scams. As these potentially decrease trust in digital services, especially in developing countries, avoiding victimization has become an important policy objective. In an online...

The expansion of digital financial services raises serious consumer protection concerns, including fraud, especially in developing countries. This column reports findings from an online experiment in Kenya which suggest that conventional scam detection tips do not improve individuals' ability to...

Does the number of future anticipated children affect educational investment in parents-to-be? In theory, anticipated children can affect the returns to education, the resources available for family consumption, and the incentives for pre-marital investment. Changes in the eligibility criteria...

Cash is an important means of transaction, generally assumed to be fungible. However, behavioral economics and consumer research show that 'cash in hand', physically holding on to cash and then handing it away, affects purchasing decisions. I study how cash in hand influences decisions in a...

Cash is an important means of transaction, generally assumed to be fungible. However, behavioral economics and consumer research show that "cash in hand", physically holding on to cash and then handing it away, affects purchasing decisions. I study how cash in hand influences decisions in a...