Advances and applications of experimental measures to test behavioral saving theories and a method to increase efficiency in binary and multiple treatment assignment

This dissertation presents four independent papers that advance experimental methods and test theories on saving using experimentally elicited characteristics. The first two papers test two behavioral theories on precautionary saving based on the characteristics loss aversion and prudence by using a combination of survey data and experimental measures of these preferences from a sample of poor households in Bogota. In that context, the second paper presents a new method to elicit risk preferences with their intensities. The last two papers make a methodological contribution to binary and mu...