Savings Behavior Research Articles

Development of Animated Video Learning Media for Energy Saving Behavior at Robbani Tutoring in Ogan Ilir Regency

The aim of this research is to develop learning media for animated videos of energy saving behaviour at Robbani Tutoring in Ogan Ilir Regency. The model suggested by Thiagarajan in terms of defining, designing, developing and disseminating (the 4-D model) is used as a development model. The data were collected by means of questionnaires and interviews. The results of this study indicate that validation from linguists obtained a percentage score of 88.8% with a very feasible category, media experts obtained a percentage score of 90% with a very feasible category, and material experts obtained a percentage score of 97% with a very feasible category. The results of one-to-one trial showed an overall percentage score of 79% with a very practical category and the same was true for the small group trial, which scored 89% in that category. Therefore, it is considered that it is feasible and practical to use the animated video product of energy saving behaviour as a learning media in science subjects for students to learn about energy saving behaviour.

Determinants of Sustainable Energy Saving Behavior among University Students in Malaysia: A Case Study of Management & Science University (MSU)

The increasing energy demand and its impact on climate change pose serious challenges to environmental sustainability. University students, as future leaders and decision-makers, have the potential to adopt and promote sustainable energy-saving behavior in their communities. However, the factors influencing their energy-saving practices are poorly understood, especially in the Malaysian context. Using a cross-sectional survey design, this research examines the factors influencing energy-saving behavior among students of MSU. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to MSU students, covering demographic details and variables related to energy-saving behavior and its determinants. The study employed stratified random sampling and used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) for data analysis. The results show that social norms and perceived control over students’ behaviors are the only significant factors affecting sustainable behavior to save energy among students. At the same time, environmental awareness, energy literacy, and personal attitudes have no significant effect. Social norms are the strongest driver of energy-saving behavior, followed by perceived behavioral control. The findings suggest that interventions and policies to foster sustainable energy-saving behavior among students should focus on enhancing social norms and perceived behavioral control. This research fills the knowledge gap by offering specific insight into sustainable energy-saving behavior among Malaysian university students.

Digital financial services for health in support of universal health coverage: qualitative programmatic case studies from Kenya and Rwanda

BackgroundThis document describes two qualitative programmatic case studies documenting experiences implementing digital financial services (DFS) for health with a focus on expanding access to universal health coverage (UHC). The CBHI 3MS system in Rwanda and the i-PUSH and Medical Credit Fund programs in Kenya were selected because they represent innovative use of digital financing technologies to support UHC programs at scale.MethodsThese studies were conducted from April-August 2021 as part of a broader digital financial services landscape assessment that used a mixed methods process evaluation to answer three questions: 1) what was the experience implementing the program, 2) how was it perceived to influence health systems performance, and 3) what was the client/beneficiary experience? Qualitative interviews involved a range of engaged stakeholders, including implementers, developers, and clients/users from the examined programs in both countries. Secondary data were used to describe key program trends.ResultsRespondents agreed that DFS contributed to health system performance by making systems more responsive, enabling programs to implement changes to digital services based on new laws or client-proposed features, and improving access to quality data for better management and improved quality of services. Key informants and secondary data confirmed that both implementations likely contributed to increasing health insurance coverage; however, other changes in market dynamics were also likely to influence these changes. Program managers and some beneficiaries praised the utility of digital functions, compared to paper-based systems, and noted their effect on individual savings behavior to contribute to household resilience.Discussion/ConclusionsSeveral implementation considerations emerged as facilitators or barriers to successful implementation of DFS for health, including the importance of multisectoral investments in general ICT infrastructure, the value of leveraging existing community resources (CHWs and mobile money agents) to boost enrollment and help overcome the digital divide, and the significance of developing trust across government and private sector organizations.The studies led to the development of five main recommendations for the design and implementation of health programs incorporating DFS.

Horizontal and vertical interactions in local fiscal slack: a spatial analysis of local governments in New York state

ABSTRACT With the recurring economic crises, the literature on fiscal savings behaviour has expanded its scope from state governments relying on budget stabilisation or rain-day funds to local governments mainly using general fund balances. While many studies have explored the determinants of local savings behaviour, few have taken fiscal interactions among local governments into account. To fill out this gap, this study explores whether spatial interdependence in fiscal slack exists horizontally between counties and vertically across counties and municipalities through the unreserved fund balance of local governments in New York State from 1996 to 2016. The empirical findings indicate that horizontal interdependence in fiscal slack among county governments exists in the short-run, while vertical interdependence is observed across counties and municipalities in the long-run.

Bequest motives and the Social Security Notch

Bequests may be a key driver of late life savings behavior and more broadly, a determinant of intergenerational inequality. However, distinguishing bequest motives from precautionary savings is challenging. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we exploit an unanticipated change in Social Security benefits, commonly called the Social Security Notch, as an instrument to identify the effect of benefits on bequests. We match data moments generated by the Notch with a model of late life savings behavior that accounts for mortality risk and unobserved expenditure shocks to identify bequest motives. The model is used to decompose the importance of bequest motives as a driver of late life savings by comparing asset profiles with and without utility from bequests. We find that roughly 40% of accumulated assets and bequests are attributable to bequest motives among retirees. Our policy counterfactual features a more progressive Social Security benefits schedule that reduces benefits for the richest retirees. We show that although wealth declines, consumption remains largely unchanged since wealth generated by bequest motives acts as a cushion against benefit reduction.

HUBUNGAN ANTARA LITERASI KEWANGAN, PENGARUH IBU BAPA DAN KAWALAN DIRI DENGAN SIKAP MENABUNG PELAJAR UNIVERSITI

Previous studies have shown that financial literacy and saving behaviour among university students are still low and many students face financial problems because they do not have any savings.This study aims to examine savings behaviour among university students in Malaysia. Specifically, this study examines the relationship between financial literacy, parents' influence, self-control, and savings behaviour among university students. Data was gathered from a sample of 377 university students through the survey method. The data was analysed using correlation. The findings reveal that the respondents have a high level of financial literacy, parental influence, self-control, and savings behaviour. Results indicated that financial literacy, parental influence and self-control positively related to savings behaviour. This study enriched the literature by identifying factors that influenced savings behaviour and provided suggestions to be practised by universities and parents in developing good savings behaviour among students. Financial knowledge needs to be inculcated in children from school so that they have good financial literacy and further enable them to manage their finances effectively.

Nexus between Government Assistance and Savings: Preliminary Analysis of Households in Malaysia

This preliminary study investigates the relationship between government assistance and household savings. The study aimed to shed light on whether government assistance programs directly influence households' savings habits. Data were collected from 25 representative sample households, including their income, expenses, savings, and participation in government assistance programs. The study examined how much money households could save regularly. The study suggested a significant correlation, between government assistance and household savings. Families that received some form of government support demonstrated a lower propensity to save than those who did not receive assistance. This trend was consistent across different income brackets and demographic groups. The researchers proposed several potential reasons for this relationship. There can be several reasons for this negative relationship. First, increased government assistance may alleviate financial strain and provide immediate relief for individuals or households, reducing the urgency or perceived need to save for future expenses or emergencies. Second, some government assistance programs may have income limits or asset tests that discourage or restrict saving behavior. It is important to note that this study was preliminary, and further research is necessary to establish a more robust understanding of the relationship between government assistance and household savings. Future studies could delve into the long-term effects of government support on savings behavior and investigate the specific mechanisms through which assistance programs influence savings habits. The preliminary findings suggest a negative association between government assistance and household savings. It emphasizes the importance of further exploring this relationship to understand household financial well-being comprehensively.

Wealth of Two Nations: The U.S. Racial Wealth Gap, 1860–2020

Abstract The racial wealth gap is the largest of the economic disparities between Black and white Americans, with a white-to-Black per capita wealth ratio of 6 to 1. It is also among the most persistent. In this article, we construct the first continuous series on white-to-Black per capita wealth ratios from 1860 to 2020, drawing on historical census data, early state tax records, and historical waves of the Survey of Consumer Finances, among other sources. Incorporating these data into a parsimonious model of wealth accumulation for each racial group, we document the role played by initial conditions, income growth, savings behavior, and capital returns in the evolution of the gap. Given vastly different starting conditions under slavery, racial wealth convergence would remain a distant scenario, even if wealth-accumulating conditions had been equal across the two groups since Emancipation. Relative to this equal-conditions benchmark, we find that observed convergence has followed an even slower path over the past 150 years, with convergence stalling after 1950. Since the 1980s, the wealth gap has widened again as capital gains have predominantly benefited white households, and convergence via income growth and savings has come to a halt.

Research on Poverty and Saving Behavior- based on the Perspective of Scarcity Mentality and Time Preference

The lack of dependable savings accounts seems common to the worlds low-income group. It will greatly limit the process of becoming rich, and even cause some people who have been out of poverty to return to it again. Today, new research from the fields of behavioral economics is shedding light on how poverty may shape an individuals saving behaviors. Hence, this article focuses on two psychological traits that are strongly associated with saving behaviors, especially for low-income groups: scarcity mindset (poverty reducing mental bandwidth) and time preference (favoring immediate rewards over long-term considerations). Through the literature reviewing, we propose a general analytical framework of poverty-scarcity mindset-limited cognitive capacity and executive control-time preference (present bias)-saving behavior-poverty trap. Then we present commitment programs and cognitive supports as two anti-poverty policy recommendations based on these phenomena, to promote welfare for low-waged families.

Leveraging realities of saving energy at home: Contributions of co-design to behavioural interventions

While reducing individual energy consumption contributes to climate change mitigation, many individuals who share this belief fail to act on it. While behavioural interventions try to address such intention-behaviour gaps, few approaches have worked with consumers to understand the realities of their opportunities and limitations to save energy at home. We argue that co-design is well-suited to address the unique challenges of climate-relevant behaviour change and propose an abductive co-design methodology to develop a behavioural intervention with household members based on the Model of Action Phases (MAP) framework. We implement the methodology to design an energy savings app and behaviour change intervention in Switzerland. The methodology shifts participants into an expert role and elucidates their motivations, real-life challenges, and knowledge gaps to save energy. Through group problem-solving and self-reflection, participants provided design inputs which address the socio-psychological gaps to progress behaviour through the preaction, action and postaction phases of the MAP. We assess the originality and feasibility of the co-design inputs, as well as reflect on the experience of the researchers and participants during the process. We conclude that co-design provided novel inputs relevant for progressing through the behaviour change stages identified by the MAP framework.

Neighbourhood social capital, account usage and savings behaviour in low‐income countries: Field experimental evidence from Senegal

AbstractFinancial inclusion is an important driver of economic growth, but gender gaps persist in financial activity, especially in low‐income countries. This study analyses the impact of text messages that make salient neighbours' savings behaviour on account usage and savings behaviour of low‐income men and women in Senegal. We performed a randomized field experiment in which 2056 clients of a local financial institution were assigned to one of three experimental conditions. We found gender differences in how these text messages impact savings and account usage. Account usage, account activity and average savings balances of female clients who received weekly savings reminders making their neighbours' savings behaviour salient increased compared to those who received generic savings reminders and those who received no savings reminders. The treatment had no impact on male clients. These results suggest that content‐specific text message reminders can create benefits for both the supply and demand side of financial services for women in low‐income countries, thereby increasing financial inclusion.

Changes in subjective mortality expectations and savings during COVID-19: empirical analysis using questionnaire data in Japan

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic may make people feel that they are likely to die in the near future. This study investigates how COVID-19 influences subjective mortality expectations and savings behaviour. We conducted a questionnaire survey in Japan with 2500 individuals, aged 20–79 years, who were working or whose spouses were working in January 2021. We empirically analysed the effect of an increase in subjective mortality on savings using the questionnaire response data. According to the questionnaire aggregation 33% of the respondents perceived an increase in the possibility of death because of COVID-19. Our empirical results, based on an instrumental variable method that considers the endogeneity of subjective mortality, show that increases in subjective mortality expectations due to COVID-19 have decreased savings. Therefore, the pandemic has decreased individuals’ motivation for saving, to a certain extent, owing to their heightened subjective mortality. Moreover, the experience of serious accidents negatively affects savings, whereas that of disasters has no significant effect.

Heterogeneous inflation and deflation experiences and savings decisions during German industrialization

Our microeconomic study of the savings behavior of 2,500 German savers in the second half of the 19th century allows us to explore the causes of individual savings decisions in an emerging economy. Inferring savers’ inflation expectations from the personal inflation experiences they made we confirm the standard interpretation of the Euler equation: The savers of our sample reduced their savings with an increase in this proxy for inflation expectation. Beyond this result, our study provides three additional insights. First, we observe a non-linear relationship between inflation experience and savings, implying that savers responded only to exceptionally high inflation (and deflation) experiences ignoring smaller fluctuations in this measure. Second, we find that savers also reacted to high deflation experiences with reducing their savings. This surprising behavior becomes reasonable when we consider that, in the second half of the 19th century, the globalization-driven decline in consumer prices was associated with an increase in nominal wages. Third, we show that it was mainly long-time female savers with above-average savings balances who adjusted their savings to changing inflation experiences.

Savings behavior among immigrants and their U.S.-born children: A test of the culture-transplant model

The economic impact of immigration involves the movement of more than just labor and capital. Under the culture-transplant model, immigrants carry from their birth countries distinctive values and behaviors that they transmit to their descendants in their new countries. This study tests the model by examining the savings disposition of immigrants and their U.S.-born children. It finds a robust link between individuals’ savings and the national savings rates of their ancestral countries. In a midrange estimate, a 1 percentage-point increase in ancestral-country savings rates is associated with a 1 percent increase in retirement savings among second-generation immigrants. These results suggest that savings behavior has a cultural basis that persists in the generation after migration.

Increasing Savings Behavior by Affecting the Connection With the Future Self: A Field Experiment

Increasing Savings Behavior by Affecting the Connection With the Future Self: A Field Experiment

Financial Saving Behavior: A Literature Review

Penelitian ini dimaksudkan untuk menyajikan tinjauan literatur untuk memeriksa dan menguji referensi yang digunakan menggunakan database yang sistematis, terkait hal-hal yang berhubungan dengan financial saving behavior. Metode literature review digunakan untuk mengidentifikasi dan menemukan faktor-faktor yang menjadi penyebab seseorang menerapkan financial saving behavior. Berdasarkan hasil penelurusan, terpilih sebelas artikel dengan rentang waktu penelitian tahun 2015-2023. Software pencarian data yang digunakan adalah Harzing Publish or Perish 8, dan untuk visualisasi data publikasi digunakan software VOSviewer 1.6.18 Temuan yang didapatkan dari sejumlah sumber referensi adalah ada berbagai faktor yang menyebabkan seseorang melakukan financial planning for retirement, baik faktor internal maupun faktor eksternal

Antecedents of Workplace Energy Saving Behaviour: An Integration of the Theory of Planned Behaviour and Norm Activation Model

Hotels are energy intensive facilities and have contributed to environmental problems such as high consumption of natural resources, high emissions of carbon dioxide and waste pollution. Therefore, it is important to understand the factors that can reduce energy (electricity) consumptions in hotels. The study examined the antecedents of employee energy saving behaviour in hotels by integrating the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and the Norm Activation model (NAM). Data was collected from the respondents through the cross-sectional survey method. The Partial Least Square Structural Equation modelling (PLS SEM) was used to analyse data and test the hypotheses. The results indicated that two TPB constructs (attitude and perceived behavioural control) are significantly positively related to energy saving intention. In addition, three NAM constructs (awareness of consequences, ascription of responsibility and personal norm) are significantly positively related to energy saving intention. Energy saving behaviour is influenced by intention. Recommendations focus on awareness about the negative effects of energy consumption on the environment through education and training.

The Impact of Financial Literacy and Financial Inclusion towards the Saving Behavior of the Students

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess and analyze the impact of Financial Literacy and Financial Inclusion on Saving Behavior using Self-Control as a moderator variable at the Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business, Private Islamic University in Medan City.Methodology: This study takes an associative method. This survey included 3747 students from the Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business, Private Islamic University in Medan City. The Slovin algorithm was used to sample 97 students from the Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business, Private Islamic University in Medan City. Data for this study were gathered through observation and questionnaires. This study's data processing processes used a quantitative approach with statistical analysis using the PLS (Partial Least Square) software tool.Findings: The findings of this study show that financial literacy and financial inclusion have a significant effect on saving behavior and that self-control does not moderate the effect of financial literacy and financial inclusion on saving behavior of Department of Accounting students, Faculty of Economics and Business, Private Islamic University in Medan City.Conclusion: This study examines how financial literacy and financial inclusion affect student saving behavior and self-control as a moderating variable. Students are the right generation to implement financial education because students are agents of change with the hope of bringing change in a better direction than before.

Mental Accounting and Savings Behavior: Evidence From Machine Learning Method

This article proposes a machine-learning-based method that can predict individuals’ savings behavior in the presence of mental accounting. The proposed predictive model perceives wealth and consumption as each being divided into three nonfungible distinct classes, as posited by the mental accounting theory. The predictive model found that mental accounting categories do have predictive power on savings behavior where expenditure on discretionary items and current income are most important. Savings behavior is best predicted by the random forest model based on the Malaysia Ageing and Retirement Survey data.

Heterogeneous Retirement Savings Strategy Selection with Reinforcement Learning.

Saving and investment behaviour is crucial for all individuals to guarantee their welfare during work-life and retirement. We introduce a deep reinforcement learning model in which agents learn optimal portfolio allocation and saving strategies suitable for their heterogeneous profiles. The environment is calibrated with occupation- and age-dependent income dynamics. The research focuses on heterogeneous income trajectories dependent on agents' profiles and incorporates the parameterisation of agents' behaviours. The model provides a new flexible methodology to estimate lifetime consumption and investment choices for individuals with heterogeneous profiles.