How do behavioral approaches to increase savings compare? Evidence from multiple interventions in the U.S. Army

Information provision, choice simplification, social messaging, active-choice frameworks, and automatic enrollment all can increase retirement savings. Gauging the relative efficacy of these approaches is challenging, however, because the supporting evidence usually derives from diverse populations over long periods. In this study, the authors leverage experimental and quasi-experimental variation in a constant setting, the U.S. military, to examine the relative efficacy and cost effectiveness of four leading retirement savings policy options.