TY - JOUR
T1 - Cultivating Self-Control in FinTech: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Online Consumer Borrowing
AU - Bu, Di
AU - Hanspal, Tobin
AU - Liao, Yin
AU - Liu, Yong
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - We report the results of a longitudinal intervention with students across five universities in China designed to reduce online consumer debt. We allocate participants to either a financial literacy treatment group, a self-control treatment group, or a zero-touch control group. Our self-control training intervention features detailed tracking of spending and borrowing, budgeting, and introspection about consumption choices. This intervention reduces online borrowing and delinquency charges, mainly driven by a reduction in entertainment-related spending and borrowing. In contrast, financial literacy interventions improve test scores but only marginally affect borrowing. Our results suggest that cultivating self-regulation and budgeting skills can improve borrowing behavior on e-commerce platforms.
AB - We report the results of a longitudinal intervention with students across five universities in China designed to reduce online consumer debt. We allocate participants to either a financial literacy treatment group, a self-control treatment group, or a zero-touch control group. Our self-control training intervention features detailed tracking of spending and borrowing, budgeting, and introspection about consumption choices. This intervention reduces online borrowing and delinquency charges, mainly driven by a reduction in entertainment-related spending and borrowing. In contrast, financial literacy interventions improve test scores but only marginally affect borrowing. Our results suggest that cultivating self-regulation and budgeting skills can improve borrowing behavior on e-commerce platforms.
U2 - 10.2139/ssrn.3469571
DO - 10.2139/ssrn.3469571
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0022-1090
JO - Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis (JFQA)
JF - Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis (JFQA)
ER -