PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Eric Hilt
AU  - Wendy M. Rahn
TI  - Turning Citizens into Investors: Promoting Savings with Liberty Bonds During World War I
AID  - 10.7758/RSF.2016.2.6.05
DP  - 2016 Oct 01
TA  - RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
PG  - 86--108
VI  - 2
IP  - 6
4099  - http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/2/6/86.short
4100  - http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/2/6/86.full
AB  - Increasing savings rates among households of modest incomes would strengthen their balance sheets and reduce wealth inequality. This paper analyzes one of the largest and most successful efforts to increase the savings of ordinary households in American history. The Liberty Bond drives of World War I persuaded tens of millions of Americans to buy government bonds, which were sold in denominations as low as $50, and could be purchased in installment plans. Using newly collected data on the sales of Liberty Bonds at the county level, we analyze the factors that influenced the degree to which the bond drives were successful. The results highlight the importance of the participation of civil society organizations and local banks in marketing the bonds. We discuss the implications of these findings for the design of modern programs to increase savings.