Mobiles, Minds and Money: Mobile technology as a platform for implementing financial behavior change

Thursday, February 19, 2015
4:15 PM - 5:30 PM
(Pacific)

****NOTE LOCATION***

School of Education

Room 128

Speaker: 
  • Amer Dahmash

 

Abstract

The global ubiquity of mobile phones presents an opportunity to explore the potential of this technology as a tool for implementing lasting behavioral change on a large scale employing techniques from behavioral economics.  This talk presents a 6 month long pilot project carried out by Juntos Finanzas in conjunction with a large Colombian bank to determine whether behavior change messaging delivered via responsive SMS can alter the savings behavior  of first-time banking customers in Colombia. We discuss the results of the intervention, the technological and design techniques used and show a strong correlation between receiving behavior change messaging and increased savings.  We explore the potential uses of these techniques in other areas such as public health and the pros and cons of SMS vs native mobile apps as a platform for delivering behavior change content.



 

Speaker Bio

Amer Dahmash is a software engineer at Juntos Finanzas in San Carlos, California.  His interests lie in the use of mobile computing to overcome problems in infrastructure in under-developed and low-income areas.  Prior to working with Juntos, Amer cofounded Regalii a venture-backed startup based in Washington Heights in Manhattan working on mobile remittances.

 

This event is part of the Liberation Technology Seminar Series