@article{TEXTUAL,
      recid = {5184},
      author = {De La Rosa, Wendy and Sussman, Abigail B. and Giannella,  Eric and Hell, Maximilian},
      title = {Communicating amounts in terms of commonly used budgeting  periods increases intentions to claim government benefits},
      journal = {PNAS},
      address = {2022-09-06},
      number = {TEXTUAL},
      abstract = {Millions of eligible families did not claim their 2021  expanded child tax credit (CTC), collectively forgoing  billions of dollars. To address this problem, many  policymakers focused on increasing awareness of the CTC by  highlighting that families could receive up to 3,600  dollars a year per child. However, people rarely budget on  a yearly basis. We propose that communicating the CTC  benefit amount in terms of commonly used budgeting periods  (e.g., 300 dollars a month) instead of uncommonly used  budgeting periods (e.g., 3,600 dollars a year) could  increase interest in claiming the CTC. Two large-scale  field experiments (n=16,696) among low-income individuals  support this account. Using common (vs. uncommon) budgeting  periods to describe CTC benefit amounts increased CTC  claiming intentions by 16 to 26%. A third large-scale field  experiment (n=14,178) demonstrated that encouraging people  to consider different budgeting periods moderated these  effects. These results suggest that communicating amounts  in terms of common budgeting periods is a simple,  cost-effective way to stimulate interest in claiming  government benefits.},
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/5184},
}