Using behavioral economics for poverty

I came across this very useful paper on applying the learnings of BE for reducing poverty. It is great to see BE principles being used widely

The paper shows how simple and less costly ideas can lead to more financial inclusion and improving poor participation in social programs.

They have some simple ideas like it isnt enough to ask people to go to a bank and open a no frills account but also give people a proper map with direction to show the location of the bank. Similarly make government transfers go automatically to a bank account (the default should be bank), etc.

For increasing participation in various government programs use simple forms, make it costlier to delay joining of these programs etc.

The best part about all these ideas is that it is pretty low cost and involves very little changes in the actual program.

Assorted Links

1. WSJ Blog says strong dollar talk, weak dollar walk.

2. WSJ Blog pointsto a suggestion that IMF should float its Sovereign Wealth Fund.

3. Rodrik on growth accounting. As usual. lot of food for thought.

4. Arvind Panagriya responds on the EPSA Blog

5. Fin Prof on Hugo Chavez

6. Econbrowser points to a picture showing Chinese pollution

7. Ajay Shah pointsto two Indian economy documents from IMF. I don’t really agree to his criticism of the Central Bank. Atleast it does not have double standards as other so called transparent central banks have.

8. MR points to a very interesting post which says:

Which do you think takes a bigger toll on the environment, owning a dog, or owning an SUV? My bet would be on the dog. I’m thinking of all of the resources that go into dog food.

9. TTR says global doom is overdone.