“Financial less is more”: An experimental study of financial communication

Abigail Hurwitz; Eyal Lahav; Yevgeny Mugerman

doi:10.1016/j.socec.2021.101756

“Financial less is more”: An experimental study of financial communication

Abigail Hurwitz, Eyal Lahav, Yevgeny Mugerman

Management discipline

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Past research has demonstrated that many individuals are not well equipped to make financial decisions and hence depend greatly on the flow and quality of financial information. Various governments are implementing reforms aimed at improving the quality of pension financial communication. Certain countries are requiring a move to short-form pension reporting, and some are requiring digital reporting instead of (or in some cases, in addition to) paper reporting. In a series of experiments, we show that the ability to locate information in financial reports is sensitive to the length of the report and to the communication form.

Original language	American English
Article number	101756
Journal	Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics
Volume	94
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2021.101756 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2021.101756
State	Published - Oct 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We have benefited from comments by Doron Kliger, Olivia S. Mitchell, Shabnam Mousavi, Orly Sade, Tal Shavit, Eyal Winter, participants at the 3 rd Coller Incentives and Behavior Change Conference (CCBE) and at SABE-IAREP 2018, and from seminar participants at Konan University, Japan, the College of Management Academic Studies, Israel, and the Open University of Israel. This project was supported by the I-CORE program of the Planning and Budgeting Committee at the Israel Science Foundation. Lahav and Hurwitz are grateful for financial support from the College of Management Academic Studies, Israel. Hurwitz wishes to express her gratitude for the Bogen Fellowship for supporting her research and the Wharton school of the University of Pennsylvania for support and hospitality.

Funding Information:
We have benefited from comments by Doron Kliger, Olivia S. Mitchell, Shabnam Mousavi, Orly Sade, Tal Shavit, Eyal Winter, participants at the 3rd Coller Incentives and Behavior Change Conference (CCBE) and at SABE-IAREP 2018, and from seminar participants at Konan University, Japan, the College of Management Academic Studies, Israel, and the Open University of Israel. This project was supported by the I-CORE program of the Planning and Budgeting Committee at the Israel Science Foundation. Lahav and Hurwitz are grateful for financial support from the College of Management Academic Studies, Israel. Hurwitz wishes to express her gratitude for the Bogen Fellowship for supporting her research and the Wharton school of the University of Pennsylvania for support and hospitality.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Inc.

Keywords

Financial communication
Financial reporting, paper vs. digital
Simplification

Access to Document

Cite this

@article{059add0e4ae948f7a85201b9507c7349,

title = "“Financial less is more”: An experimental study of financial communication",

abstract = "Past research has demonstrated that many individuals are not well equipped to make financial decisions and hence depend greatly on the flow and quality of financial information. Various governments are implementing reforms aimed at improving the quality of pension financial communication. Certain countries are requiring a move to short-form pension reporting, and some are requiring digital reporting instead of (or in some cases, in addition to) paper reporting. In a series of experiments, we show that the ability to locate information in financial reports is sensitive to the length of the report and to the communication form.",

keywords = "Financial communication, Financial reporting, paper vs. digital, Simplification",

author = "Abigail Hurwitz and Eyal Lahav and Yevgeny Mugerman",

note = "Funding Information: We have benefited from comments by Doron Kliger, Olivia S. Mitchell, Shabnam Mousavi, Orly Sade, Tal Shavit, Eyal Winter, participants at the 3 rd Coller Incentives and Behavior Change Conference (CCBE) and at SABE-IAREP 2018, and from seminar participants at Konan University, Japan, the College of Management Academic Studies, Israel, and the Open University of Israel. This project was supported by the I-CORE program of the Planning and Budgeting Committee at the Israel Science Foundation. Lahav and Hurwitz are grateful for financial support from the College of Management Academic Studies, Israel. Hurwitz wishes to express her gratitude for the Bogen Fellowship for supporting her research and the Wharton school of the University of Pennsylvania for support and hospitality. Funding Information: We have benefited from comments by Doron Kliger, Olivia S. Mitchell, Shabnam Mousavi, Orly Sade, Tal Shavit, Eyal Winter, participants at the 3rd Coller Incentives and Behavior Change Conference (CCBE) and at SABE-IAREP 2018, and from seminar participants at Konan University, Japan, the College of Management Academic Studies, Israel, and the Open University of Israel. This project was supported by the I-CORE program of the Planning and Budgeting Committee at the Israel Science Foundation. Lahav and Hurwitz are grateful for financial support from the College of Management Academic Studies, Israel. Hurwitz wishes to express her gratitude for the Bogen Fellowship for supporting her research and the Wharton school of the University of Pennsylvania for support and hospitality. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Elsevier Inc.",

year = "2021",

month = oct,

doi = "10.1016/j.socec.2021.101756",

language = "American English",

volume = "94",

journal = "Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics",

issn = "2214-8043",

publisher = "Elsevier Inc.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - “Financial less is more”

T2 - An experimental study of financial communication

AU - Hurwitz, Abigail

AU - Lahav, Eyal

AU - Mugerman, Yevgeny

N1 - Funding Information: We have benefited from comments by Doron Kliger, Olivia S. Mitchell, Shabnam Mousavi, Orly Sade, Tal Shavit, Eyal Winter, participants at the 3 rd Coller Incentives and Behavior Change Conference (CCBE) and at SABE-IAREP 2018, and from seminar participants at Konan University, Japan, the College of Management Academic Studies, Israel, and the Open University of Israel. This project was supported by the I-CORE program of the Planning and Budgeting Committee at the Israel Science Foundation. Lahav and Hurwitz are grateful for financial support from the College of Management Academic Studies, Israel. Hurwitz wishes to express her gratitude for the Bogen Fellowship for supporting her research and the Wharton school of the University of Pennsylvania for support and hospitality. Funding Information: We have benefited from comments by Doron Kliger, Olivia S. Mitchell, Shabnam Mousavi, Orly Sade, Tal Shavit, Eyal Winter, participants at the 3rd Coller Incentives and Behavior Change Conference (CCBE) and at SABE-IAREP 2018, and from seminar participants at Konan University, Japan, the College of Management Academic Studies, Israel, and the Open University of Israel. This project was supported by the I-CORE program of the Planning and Budgeting Committee at the Israel Science Foundation. Lahav and Hurwitz are grateful for financial support from the College of Management Academic Studies, Israel. Hurwitz wishes to express her gratitude for the Bogen Fellowship for supporting her research and the Wharton school of the University of Pennsylvania for support and hospitality. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier Inc.

PY - 2021/10

Y1 - 2021/10

N2 - Past research has demonstrated that many individuals are not well equipped to make financial decisions and hence depend greatly on the flow and quality of financial information. Various governments are implementing reforms aimed at improving the quality of pension financial communication. Certain countries are requiring a move to short-form pension reporting, and some are requiring digital reporting instead of (or in some cases, in addition to) paper reporting. In a series of experiments, we show that the ability to locate information in financial reports is sensitive to the length of the report and to the communication form.

AB - Past research has demonstrated that many individuals are not well equipped to make financial decisions and hence depend greatly on the flow and quality of financial information. Various governments are implementing reforms aimed at improving the quality of pension financial communication. Certain countries are requiring a move to short-form pension reporting, and some are requiring digital reporting instead of (or in some cases, in addition to) paper reporting. In a series of experiments, we show that the ability to locate information in financial reports is sensitive to the length of the report and to the communication form.

KW - Financial communication

KW - Financial reporting, paper vs. digital

KW - Simplification

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85122755789&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.socec.2021.101756

DO - 10.1016/j.socec.2021.101756

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85122755789

SN - 2214-8043

VL - 94

JO - Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics

JF - Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics

M1 - 101756

ER -

“Financial less is more”: An experimental study of financial communication

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this