Worldwide, the majority of workers hold jobs in the informal sector that do not provide access
to social insurance programs. We partnered with a savings product provider in Kenya to test
the extent to which behavioral interventions and financial incentives can increase the saving
rate through a voluntary pension program for informal workers with low and irregular income.
Our experiment lasted for six months and included a total of twelve conditions. The control
condition received weekly reminders and balance reporting via text messages. The treatment
conditions received in addition one of the following interventions: (1) reminder text messages
framed as if they came from the participant’s kid (2) a golden colored coin with numbers for
each week of the trial, on which participants were asked to keep track of their weekly
deposits (3) a match of weekly savings: The match was either 10% or 20% up to a certain
amount per week. The match was either deposited at the end of each week or the highest
possible match was deposited at the start of each week and was adjusted at the end.
these influences into account.