ABSTRACT Drawing on first-hand data collected from a household survey in urban Benin, we examine membership in two types of informal groups that display the characteristics of a commitment device: Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs) and funeral groups. We investigate whether agents displaying time preferences with a present bias are more likely to commit themselves through participation in such groups. Our results provide evidence indicating that women who display such preferences are more likely to join funeral groups, but not ROSCAs, and to save more through them. These results hold for women but not for men. We also ensure that our results cannot be explained by intra-household conflict issues.

中文翻译：

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时间偏好和承诺工具：来自贝宁的ROSCA和丧葬团体的证据

摘要我们利用从贝宁市区的一次家庭调查中收集的第一手数据，研究了显示承诺工具特征的两种非正式团体的成员资格：轮换式储蓄和信用协会（ROSCA）和fun葬团体。我们调查了具有当前偏见的，表现出时间偏好的特工是否更可能通过参与此类群体来做出承诺。我们的结果提供了证据表明，表现出这种偏好的女性更有可能加入葬礼团体，而不是ROSCA，并通过这些团体储蓄更多。这些结果适用于女性，但不适用于男性。我们还确保我们的结果不能用家庭内部冲突问题解释。