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The puzzle between poverty and risk aversion is still incomplete as there is no theory that can reconcile all t he behaviors document ed so far. This paper emerges from t he fact t hat , recent experimental evidence, found in psychology and economics, suggests that some decisions made under risk respond to reference points (status quo and others) challenging the theory of Expected Utility. To explain such behaviors, several hypotheses have been raised, of which the Cumulative Prospect Theory of Kahneman and Tversky stands out. Yet, even this theory still presents some limitations. This paper develops a theory where individuals respond to income references, which result of diverse income related exclusion mechanisms, so referenced behaviors can be consistent with rational choices. According to this theory some income references affects the behavior, either by being near them or by deciding over high stakes that involves them. T he extremely poor have the reference of the income that guarantees the consumption of calories to ensure a healthy and longer life. While the poor have the reference of the minimum income to avoid income determined exclusion. To test the reference of the extremely poor, an experimental exercise was conducted with 92 individuals from households living under poverty and extreme poverty in Bogotá, Colombia. Experiments on Baseline Risk and Loss Aversion were conducted with high stakes monetary payments; the highest was 23% of the country's monthly minimum wage. We fi rst analyze the selection of risky options according to an order according to the risk that each option implied. Additionally an alternative method is proposed that uses an average measure of risk aversion instead of ordered options to capture the fact that there are differences in the steps. We use an analysis of a Regression Discontinuity Design where, if there is a treatment like being undernourished determined by a critical value of single variable as income then, if all the other variables does not change around the critical value, any change in a dependent variable, for example risk aversion can be explained by the incidence of the treatment. In the Base Risk exercise some households were offered the opportunity to achieve the income enough to avoid undernourishment for one month while in Loss Aversion some framed options would result in entering undernourishment. The results suggest that being below and near the reference income decreases significantly the households risk aversion while the contrary holds when being near and above. T his can be understood as if the incentive to leave undernourishment significantly decreases risk aversion while avoiding it increases risk aversion.

Los sistemas de pensiones de contribución definida como el chileno trasladan gran parte de los riesgos asociados al sistema pensional al trabajador. Por lo tanto, para su buen funcionamiento estos sistemas requieren de una comprensión profunda de la población sobre conceptos financieros y previsionales. En la literatura hay consenso de que el nivel de educación financiera previsional es bajo (Lusardi y Mitchell, 2014). Este estudio mide el impacto de uno de los principales esfuerzos en materia de educación previsional en Chile: "Ahorra desde Ahora", taller de educación financiera y previsional desarrollado por la Asociación de AFPs. Evaluamos el impacto del taller en el conocimiento, conciencia y percepción del sistema de pensiones en alumnos de último año de educación secundaria de colegios técnicoprofesionales, a través del método de prueba controlada aleatorizada (RCT, por sus siglas en inglés). La intervención consistió en dos visitas a 196 colegios técnico-profesionales, los cuales fueron aleatoriamente asignados a dos grupos: tratamiento (alumnos asistieron al taller) y control. Los resultados de la evaluación muestran que el taller "Ahorra desde Ahora" tiene un efecto significativo en incrementar el conocimiento financiero y previsional de los alumnos de cuarto medio. La magnitud del efecto es similar a lo encontrado en la literatura (i.e. Frisancho, 2017) con una intervención mucho más limitada. Además, la confianza de los alumnos en las AFP y sistema de pensiones se incrementó de manera significativa.

Este artículo presenta un resumen de la experiencia que el Laboratorio de Ahorro para el Retiro (LAR) del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) ha desarrollado en sus cuatro años de existencia para promover el ahorro previsional voluntario en países como Chile, Colombia, México y Perú.