Behavioral economics and credit unions make a fine pair
Designing products that serve the "predictably irrational” is the new path to putting members first.
Credit unions live and die around the idea of putting members first. Now, there’s an emerging field of academic study that offers actionable insight on how credit unions can nudge their members into putting themselves first, too.
Behavioral economics (BE) tries to understand behavior through multiple lenses such as psychology, judgment, decision-making, and, of course, economics. BE offers approaches that can help the credit union movement help its members address problems like:
- Emergency Savings: 47% of Americans can’t come up with $400 in an emergency without borrowing or selling something, according to The Federal Reserve.
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