Common Cents Lab:
2017 Applications &
Information Webinar
Monday, October 17th | 12pm PT, 3pm ET
WHAT TO EXPECT TODAY?
Who are we?
What do we do?
What is Behavioral Economics?
Who do we work with?
What does a partnership look like?
How can you become a partner?
Any questions?
#CommonCents
WHO ARE WE?
Common Cents is a behavioral science research lab
at Duke University that creates and tests
interventions to help low and middle-income
households increase their financial well-being.
Common Cents is supported by MetLife Foundation.
#CommonCents
WHO ARE WE?
2 offices (Durham, NC & San Francisco, CA)
Key leadership include:
Dan Ariely
#CommonCents
Mariel Beasley
Kristen Berman
Wendy De La Rosa
WHO'S ON OUR ADVISORY COUNCIL?
Common Cents has top advisors across financial
industry, tech, and academia
EVELYN STARK
Assistant VP of Financial
Inclusion at MetLife
Foundation
RACHEL SCHNEIDER
Senior Vice President at
CFSI
IDA RADEMACHER
Executive Director of the
Initiative on Financial
Security (IFS) at the Aspen
Institute
SCOTT COOK
Co-founder and Chairman
of Intuit
CATHIE MAHON
President/ CEO of the National
Federation of Community
Development Credit Unions
PARKER THOMAS
Partner at AngelList
JOHN LYNCH
Director of the Center for
Research on Consumer
Financial Decision Making
ANAT BINUR
Investment Partner at Innovation
Endeavors
#CommonCents
THOMAS BROWN
Partner at Paul Hastings
WHAT DO WE DO?
Our goal is to create and test interventions, using behavioral
insights, that will increase the financial well-being of low to
moderate income households across 5 main areas:
Improving cash
flow
management
Decreasing
expenses
$
#CommonCents
Decreasing Debt
Increasing shortterm savings
Increasing longterm savings
HOW DO WE DO IT?
We strive to meet our goal through a 3-prong approach
PARTNERSHIPS
Create interventions
with partners
#CommonCents
PRODUCTS
Create consumer
facing products from
the ground up
RESEARCH
Disseminate research
broadly to industry
and thought leaders
WHAT IS BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS?
•  Accumulates information
•  Accounts for probabilities
•  Accurately weighs costs & benefits (across
domains and timeframes)
•  Maximizes own utility
•  Has stable preferences
#CommonCents
WHAT IS BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS?
#CommonCents
WHAT IS BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS?
•  Don’t save enough money
•  Take on too much debt
•  Eat too much
•  Don’t exercise enough
•  Text & drive
•  Over heat/cool our homes
•  Drive when we could walk, bus, or carpool
•  Throw recyclables in the trash
#CommonCents
WHAT IS BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS?
#CommonCents
WHAT IS BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS?
Just knowing information
does NOT
lead to behavior change
#CommonCents
WHAT IS BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS?
The ENVIRONMENT in
which we make decisions
#CommonCents
WHAT IS BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS
Hi [first name] —
you got a federal
tax refund this
year! 💸
What percent (%)
would you like to
save?
#CommonCents
Hi [first name] —
you might get a
federal tax refund
this year! 💸
If you do get one,
what percent (%)
would you like to
save?
15% decided
to save.
Saved 20%
of their
refund (on
average).
WHAT IS BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS
3x uptake
rates
(compared to
the generic
letter)
#CommonCents
WHAT IS BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS
Bond et al,
2012
Increased
“I Voted”
responses
from
18% to 20%
(that’s 1.2 million
more people)
#CommonCents
WHO DO WE WORK WITH?
We work with fin-tech companies, non-profits, credit
unions, and other direct financial service providers.
So far, we have already kicked off partnerships with:
#CommonCents
WHAT DOES A PARTNERSHIP LOOK LIKE?
Test
Ideas
#CommonCents
Question
Map
WHAT DOES A PARTNERSHIP LOOK LIKE?
Current Data
#CommonCents
HOW TO BECOME A PARTNER?
Applications open once a year (2017 applications are due Oct. 28th)
●  Partners must:
○  Have a significant LMI user base
○  Agree to run an experiment or study
○  Share experiment results with public
○  Assign a POC for the project
FIN-TECH PARTNERSHIPS
●  Already secured A1 funding
●  $2K engagement deposit (returned to fin-tech
partner after experiment launch
●  Duration: 3-6 month engagements
#CommonCents
BRICK & MORTAR PARTNERSHIPS
●  Partners are eligible to receive a $5K - $25K
grant
●  Duration: 1 year engagements
QUESTIONS?
Reach out to:
Mariel Beasley [email protected]
Kristen Berman [email protected]
Wendy De La Rosa [email protected]
#CommonCents