Inciting Healthy Behaviors by Simplifying the Financial Lives of the Poor

Manuela Angelucci from the University of Michigan in the U.S. will test whether addressing financial insecurity and chronic stress in poor Mexican women can improve health. They will perform a randomized control trial involving 15,000 low-income Mexican women who are currently in a national program that provides cash when they receive regular health checks. They hypothesize that automatically transferring 10% of that money into a savings account will simplify the women's finances and thereby reduce stress and improve mental health. In turn, this could enhance the mental resources of these women and enable them to more readily adopt healthier behavior such as improving nutrition and getting their children vaccinated.