Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis Vol. 57 No. 6 2022
Cultivating Self-Control in FinTech: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Online Consumer Borrowing
Abstract
We report the results of a longitudinal intervention with students across 5 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.
- DOI
- 10.1017/s0022109021000314
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 2208-2250
- Language
- en
- Sources
- bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref