The study investigates whether borrowers' choices can in fact be manipulated by frames, cues, and other "features" of a choice set that change the presentation of the choice, but not its actual content or inherent value.  This research has important implications for commercial lenders, who often struggle to make financial products appear more attractive in marketing campaigns. For this study, IPA partnered with a consumer lender in South Africa to identify which psychological features of a mass-mailing advertising campaign are the most effective.

To conduct the analysis, the lender mails over 50,000 loan offers, containing randomly assigned psychological features, to former clients.  We design the randomized features to mimic cues and frames that have been shown to influence choices in lab settings.  These features range from gain and loss framing of competitors' interest rates to photographic cues for suggested loan uses.  Because the lender simultaneously randomizes interest - independent of the psychological features - we are able to scale sensitivity to marketing treatments by sensitivity to interest rates and thereby "price" psychology.