Tying Odysseus to the mast: evidence from a commitment savings product in the Philippines
Ashraf, Karlan and Yin designed a commitment savings product for a bank in the Philippines, meant for people who want to restrict their own access to their savings, and tested it in a randomised trial. After a baseline survey of 1,777 existing or former clients, a randomly chosen 710 were offered the product and about 28 per cent of them accepted. Women, who discounted the future less heavily in the baseline questions, were significantly more likely to take it up. After twelve months, average savings balances rose for those offered the product, which the authors read as a lasting change in saving behaviour and not a short-term reaction to a new product.
Ashraf, Karlan and Yin designed a commitment savings product for a bank in the Philippines, meant for people who want to restrict their own access to their savings, and tested it in a randomised trial. After a baseline survey of 1,777 existing or former clients, a randomly chosen 710 were offered the product and about 28 per cent of them accepted. Women, who discounted the future less heavily in the baseline questions, were significantly more likely to take it up. After twelve months, average savings balances rose for those offered the product, which the authors read as a lasting change in saving behaviour and not a short-term reaction to a new product.
Written from the abstract read 2026-10-27 via OpenAlex.
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Ashraf, N., Karlan, D., & Yin, W. (2006). Tying Odysseus to the mast: evidence from a commitment savings product in the Philippines. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121(2), 635-672. doi:10.1162/qjec.2006.121.2.635