About Us
Our Lab
Since 2015, the Common Cents Lab at Duke University has partnered with banks, credit unions, fintechs, universities, and government teams to run hundreds of experiments to find out how to improve the design of financial products and services for low income households.
This interactive tool captures what we've learned so far - what worked and what didn't - across a variety of domains. Build a custom report that can help inform your decisions as you build your own financial products and services.
How We Use Behavioral Science
Behavioral science is an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of academic disciplines and is applied via a variety of methodologies. We draw on research from behavioral economics, psychology, and other social sciences to design and test interventions.
Guide Me to Relevant Interventions
Build a custom report that can help inform your decisions as you build your own financial products and services.
Guide Me to Relevant Interventions
Build a custom report that can help inform your decisions as you build your own financial products and services.
GUIDE ME
Common Cents Lab Annual Reports
2020 Annual Report
On our list of common misfortunes to plan for, here's one we likely wouldn't have thought of before 2020: global pandemic. Yet it has upended the lives of millions of people—sending them back to square one in any number of arenas, but certainly including financial wellbeing.
Download the Report
2019 Annual Report
The average family in the United States is playing a financial game in which the odds are decidedly stacked in favor of the house. The house we are referring to is, of course, not just in Vegas. It's in every shopping mall, car dealership, internet browser, smart phone, Instagram account, restaurant, court room, and retail store in every community across the country.
Download the Report
2018 Annual Report
Now that Common Cents Lab has concluded its third year, we are officially past the startup (or lift-off) phase and are, so to speak, ready to add fuel. This doesn't mean that the journey has been without turbulence. Designing products and processes to transform the financial lives of people with low incomes isn't simple, even with all we've learned to date.
Download the Report
2017 Annual Report
With the second full year of Common Cents Lab in the books (in this book, to be more precise), there is much progress to acknowledge. While Common Cents Lab is a research entity, its work does so much more than create interesting research. It creates easier, more intuitive ways for people to save - which is something that most people say they want to do, but find difficult.
Download the Report
2016 Annual Report
In the current state of the world, Americans are not financially secure. In a study we conducted with close to 1,000 LMI participants, 36% self-reported having less than $500 in savings (including retirement savings). Most people in the study did not feel financially secure, yet they had a strong desire to become financially secure.
Download the Report
