Emergency Savings among Persistently Poor Households: Evidence from a Field Experiment.

This article examines the effects of behavioral interventions embedded in a free, online tax-filing software program on emergency savings among low-income U.S. tax filers, focusing on differences between persistently and transitorily low-income households. The study found that while overall six-month postfiling savings impacts were not statistically significant for the full sample, persistently low-income filers—defined as those using means-tested tax software or receiving the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in consecutive years—showed significant increases in retaining part of their tax refunds as savings, especially when exposed to an intervention emphasizing emergency savings. Moreover, the positive effects were strongest among persistently low-income filers lacking access to $2,000 in emergency funds prior to filing, suggesting that financial resource constraints moderate intervention effectiveness. The findings indicate that low-touch, behaviorally informed tax-time savings prompts can help economically vulnerable households build emergency savings, though broader policy measures remain necessary to address financial instability comprehensively.