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Getting Citizens to Save: Media Influence on Incentive-Based Policies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 November 2015

ANDREA LAWLOR
ANDREA LAWLOR*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, King's University College, Western University, 266 Epworth Ave., London, Canada email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Governments often introduce financial incentives to citizens in order to encourage ‘personally responsible’ behaviour. Examples of these types of incentives include tax-deferral or tax-free incentives around retirement savings. These types of incentives are shown to matter to investment strategies in the aggregate, but we still lack a full explanation as to how individuals respond to these types of incentives, and what role media play in advertising these incentives. This paper illustrates the potentially vital role that media play in enhancing contributions to one incentive-based policy, the Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) in Canada (2000–2013), using aggregate contribution data, media data, as well as individual-level survey data from the Canadian Financial Capability Survey. Results show that media advertising of the programme influences contribution outcomes and, while media may not outweigh lifecycle effects such as proximity to retirement, it is nonetheless an essential – and overlooked – motivator for contributions to late-life savings.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , April 2016 , pp. 201 - 222
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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