This research examines the effects of earmarking money on savings by low-income consumers. In particular, the authors test two interventions that are designed to enhance the effects of earmarking: a) using a visual reminder of the savings goal and b) dividing the earmarked money into two parts....

In four studies, we show that consumers' savings can be increased or decreased merely by changing the way consumers think about their saving goals. Consumers can (a) either specify or not specify an exact amount to save (goal specificity), and (b) they can focus on either how to save, or why to...

Extravagant spending is often recommended as a way to signal wealth to potential mates. However, in a series of experiments utilizing face-to-face and online dating encounters, we find that both men and women whose inclinations favor saving (“savers”) are viewed as more attractive romantic...

One researcher asserts that half of the 4,000 colleges and universities in the United States will be bankrupt within the next few decades. Change is coming whether colleges and universities like it or not. Think of what is happening to the newspapers and retailers. Unfortunately, most...

Capital mobilization is a traditional business of commercial banks and is one of the core foundations for the development of a bank. Capital mobilization is the main input in the operation of a bank, and this is also the basis for generating output for credit activities as well as other banking...

Many individuals act more selfishly in games when actions are hidden and their image is not at risk. However, some individuals may still desire to publicly signal reciprocity or other socially desired behavior in these contexts. These individuals may view hidden actions not as an opportunity to...

An ethnographic study of a brand community following the launch of the Porsche Cayenne SUV finds that brand extensions can negatively affect the value of their parent brands. By studying the collective response to brand extensions of existing consumers and by substituting a culturally situated...

Using a model where households can save in either a safe asset or in an illiquid, tax-advantaged pension, we assess the extent to which those who recently reached the state pension age in the UK have saved optimally for retirement. The policy environment specified closely matches that prevailing...

Whether higher lifetime income households do save a larger share of their income is one of the longstanding empirical questions in economics that has been surprisingly difficult to answer. We use both consumption data and a new dataset containing both individual survey data on wealth holdings...

The objective of the paper is to explore the saving and consumption responses of a representative household to a range of policy interventions such as changes in taxes and pension settings. To achieve this, it develops a two-period life-cycle model. The representative household maximises...