Week of September 28, 2015

1. Financial Education: A new study investigates the link between the "ABCs" of financial education (attitudes, behavior, and cognitive biases) and financial outcomes.  The results report significant effects of both counseling and goal setting on real financial outcomes with no impact from "pay-for-performance" interventions. SSRN

2. Cash Transfers: Berk Özler sifts through the literature on cash transfer and graduation programs as he addresses the increasingly trendy development question – should we just give people cash? The World Bank

3. Asset Limits: Poor households face many challenges in building up savings for the long-term...and Maine just added another one.  Starting November 1, individuals can only hold up to $5,000 in savings and other assets in order to receive food stamps. The Washington Post

4. Retirement Savings: Could tontines--a wildly popular but now illegal retirement savings plan from 200 years ago (and which are now mostly known as a threadbare plot device in action movies)--help shore up and broaden retirement plans? The Washington Post

5. Credit Unions:  How do urban Community Development Credit Unions serve their customers (and which customers do they serve) in the face of rapid demographic changes and gentrification in their neighborhoods? Yes Magazine