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learn$ave Project: Final Reportmore than speculate as to why this was the case, butall of the reasons seem to point towards the possibilitythat the delay between saving and then investing mayhave eroded, for all but the “determined” savers, theattractiveness of the credits for adult education purposes.For others, this delay proved necessary to achieve theirmaximum saving goal and to proceed with their plannedinvestment.The design of IDA program models can have animportant influence on participant outcomes. We founddeclining marginal returns on increases to the matchrate so the most effective and efficient rate may not bethe highest. Raising the ceiling on the amount of savingsthat will be matched does increase the amount saved.Decreasing the saving period did not seem to affectthe amount of saving achieved, but increased savingregularity. Taken together, these types of variables seemto provide cues or references for participants, signallinghow much and how fast to aim to save, how much toinvest in eligible goals and by when. Even if participantsdo not plan to or actually meet the outer limit of an IDAprogram design, these features may nudge participantstowards more or less, faster or slower savings.The ancillary services of financial managementtraining and enhanced case management services, whencombined with the matched saving incentive, had asignificant but substantively small incremental impact onsavings and use of the matched credits, compared to thesaving incentive alone. While learn$ave-plus participantsmay have been expected to save more and more regularlythan learn$ave-only participants who received only thematched credits owing to the additional assistance theformer received, this did not happen in a substantialenough way to suggest there is a major benefit to addingthe services on top of the matched credits in an IDAaccount. Most of the savings behaviour can and should beunderstood as a response to the incentive of the matchingcredit and the (unobserved) value ascribed to the eligiblesavings goals. This is investigated further in subsequentchapters when we look at the role of the services onparticipation in adult education and training.The role of asset tests and social assistance regulationsis also worth noting. Though IA recipients did havelower than project average savings levels and regularity,they did demonstrate that even the very lowest incomeparticipants in IDA programs may respond to the incentiveof a matched savings program. Also, noteworthy isthe variation in IA asset tests across jurisdictions andhow, since learn$ave was launched in 2000, at least sixprovinces have moved to exempt personal and matchedsavings in recognized IDA programs for their IA clients.66 | Chapter 5 Social Research and Demonstration Corporation