Talk:Debt snowball method

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Relevant Academic Research

The section below was added presumably by the study's author to this article under the heading "Relevant Academic Research". However, we don't include such sections as they would logically end up as a long list of related papers. As a result, I've removed the section to the talk page in hopes that various editors can parse it for inclusion within the body of the article (along with the relevant citation). I don't know if the cited journal is of any merit, but I'm happy to presume it is until someone can present evidence otherwise - my concern is simply one of article structure. Rklawton (talk) 14:46, 14 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

"Decision-making research has revealed that the debt-snowball method is a very common approach to managing multiple debts, even when larger debts have larger interest rates.^[1] Amar, Ariely, Ayal, Cryder, and Rick (2011) observed this tendency in surveys of indebted consumers and in incentive-compatible laboratory experiments. Amar et al. (2011) found that restricting laboratory participants’ ability to completely pay off small debts actually helped them to reduce overall debt more quickly, by refocusing their attention on paying off high-interest debts. The natural tendency to pay off small debts first (which Amar et al. termed "debt account aversion") has been attributed to the appeal of achieving goals that are near completion and the tendency for multiple losses (e.g., debts) to be more distressing than a single loss of equivalent total value."

Reply: When assessing the potential benefits of the debt-snowball method, it is important for indebted consumers to hear not only from financial gurus operating largely on intuition, but also from academics who have conducted careful research into whether the method actually helps people get out of debt. The benefit of more informed decision-making seems to outweigh the cost of a potentially lengthy section on relevant academic research.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am an author of the research summarized here. It has been peer-reviewed and will be published in the Journal of Marketing Research, a premier journal by any objective measure (see, e.g., the Financial Times’ list of top business journals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Academic_Journals/FT_Top_40). The Editor of the journal asked us to update this Wikipedia entry.

^ Moty Amar, Dan Ariely, Shahar Ayal, Cynthia Cryder, and Scott Rick (2011), "Winning the Battle but Losing the War: The Psychology of Debt Management," Journal of Marketing Research.

[1] Moty Amar, Dan Ariely, Shahar Ayal, Cynthia Cryder, and Scott Rick (2011), "Winning the Battle but Losing the War: The Psychology of Debt Management," Journal of Marketing Research.

[1]