Advancing knowledge and practice wherever people interact with information and technology

In developing economies, only one in five adults saves money in a formal account. A new study finds that mobile banking — and insights from behavioral economics — can facilitate default savings programs, effectively reaching the world’s rural poor through the devices they are already using.

The study, co-authored by Professor Blumenstock, found that nudging employees to save with default savings plans was strikingly effective in Afghanistan, one of the world’s least financially developed countries. “Data science can often be fairly ‘hands-off,’" Blumenstock said. “But here we spent a lot of time with the people in the study, and — not just in the data, but through personal stories — saw how helping people to save could improve other aspects of their lives.”

As an Army veteran at the I School, Steve Trush (MIMS ’18) felt empowered to apply his experience in operational planning and security risk management in the “tech for social good” space: “We learn in the military how to lead diverse teams to solve problems under immense resource constraints, but that skill needs to be adapted to how the tech industry works ... the I School helps make that translation of skills possible.”

The incoming cohort of the I School’s newest degree program, the Master of Information and Cybersecurity (MICS), includes several student veterans. Delivered online, MICS provides the technical skills and contextual knowledge students need to assume leadership positions in technology companies as well as government and military organizations.