Increasing Retirement Savings through Access Points and Persuasive Messages: Evidence from Mexico

Abstract

We study transaction costs for making deposits within the privatized pension system in Mexico. We analyze an expansion of access channels for additional (voluntary) contributions at 7-Eleven stores, followed by a media campaign providing information on this policy and persuasive messages to save. We estimate a differential 6-9% increase in the volume of transactions post-policy in municipalities with 7-Eleven relative to those without. However, due to smaller deposits compared to pre-policy sizes, we find modest effects on the flow of savings. Contribution size was not just smaller for marginal savers, but also decreased significantly for some inframarginal savers.