Key:
Basic research
Applied research
Jump to:
Current projects
Completed projects
What’s the difference between basic and applied research?
Basic research seeks to expand our understanding of fundamental principles and theories. It’s driven by curiosity and the goal of building knowledge, even if there’s no immediate practical use. For example, studying how people make decisions under uncertainty helps us understand human behavior—even if we don’t yet know how that knowledge will be used.
Applied research takes that knowledge and puts it to work. It’s focused on solving real-world problems and often leads to new tools, programs, or policies. For instance, using behavioral science to improve financial literacy programs is a direct application of research insights.
At ICMM, we value both—because understanding how people think and behave is just the first step. The real impact comes when we apply that knowledge to make lives better.
Current
Financial Health Network
In this qualitative research study, The Financial Health Network aimed to understand the financial advising needs of LMI older adults and to identify design features that providers can implement to support LMI older adults in successfully adopting and using digital financial advising tools as they approach retirement.
NBER Graduate Student Research Fellows
With the generous support of ICMM, the NBER is a graduate student fellowship program that supports emerging researchers who are studying consumer financial behavior, with an emphasis on the choices and decisions of low and moderate income households. The program provides up to two years of research support for outstanding doctoral students in North American economics and finance Ph.D. programs. ICMM will award up to 10 research fellows with this grant.
Tri-University Research with Older Americans
In the summer of 2019, the Institute of Consumer Money Management awarded a four-year grant to North Carolina State University with Robert Clark as the Principal Investigator. The research team included co-PIs Annamaria Lusardi of Stanford University and Olivia S. Mitchell of the University of Pennsylvania. The proposed research consisted of two nationally representative surveys of individuals aged 45 to 75, examination of five important policy areas, and a capstone conference.
Young Enterprising Women Program
The Young Enterprising Women program is a national program that brings together women leaders, entrepreneurs, and STEAM professionals within local communities to teach high school girls from intercity and underserved areas about financial literacy and wellbeing, and becoming an entrepreneur or STEAM professional.
Completed
NOVA Financial Lab
With a grant from the Institute of Consumer Management, PBS and the Center for Advanced Hindsight developed free, online games for the popular NOVA Labs platform for teens informed by the latest behavioral insights in the domain of financial decision-making. Think of it as a fun place to practice managing a budget.