What would happen if people could choose automatically increasing KiwiSaver contributions?

In this paper, we study a scheme that would make increasing KiwiSaver contributions easier. This scheme would give people the option to automatically increase their contributions each year until a maximum contribution rate is reached. We study the effect of offering this scheme with a survey experiment in which respondents are asked to fill in KiwiSaver deduction forms with and without the possibility of joining the scheme. We find that 29% of respondents would choose to join the scheme if offered. Offering the scheme has no detectable impact on current contribution rates and can substantially increase future contribution rates.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in New Zealand Economic Papers on 11 Nov 2021, available at https://doi.org/10.1080/00779954.2021.1998198.