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| Karlan, Dean S.; Ashraf, Nava; Yin, Wesley. |
| Female "empowerment" has increasingly become a policy goal, both as an end to itself and as a means to achieving other development goals. Microfinance in particular has often been argued, but not without controversy, to be a tool for empowering women. Here, using a randomized controlled trial, we examine whether access to an individually-held commitment savings product leads to an increase in female decision-making power within the household. We find positive impacts, particularly for women who have below median decision-making power in the baseline, and we find this leads to a shift towards female-oriented durables goods purchased in the household. |
| Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper |
Palavras-chave: Labor and Human Capital. |
| Ano: 2006 |
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/28380 |
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| Ashraf, Nava; Karlan, Dean S.; Yin, Wesley. |
| Informal lending and savings institutions exist around the world, and often include regular door-to-door deposit collection of cash. Some banks have adopted similar services in order to expand access to banking services in areas that lack physical branches. Using a randomized control trial, we investigate determinants of participation in a deposit collection service and evaluate the impact of offering the service for micro-savers of a rural bank in the Philippines. Of 137 individuals offered the service in the treatment group, 38 agreed to sign-up, and 20 regularly used the service. Take-up is predicted by distance to the bank (a measure of transaction costs of depositing without the service) as well as being married (a suggestion that household bargaining... |
| Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper |
Palavras-chave: Savings behavior; Microfinance; Field experiment; Savings mobilization; Deposit collector; Financial Economics; D1; D9; G1; G2; O1. |
| Ano: 2005 |
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/28502 |
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| Ashraf, Nava; Karlan, Dean S.; Yin, Wesley. |
| Commitment devices for savings could benefit those with self-control as well as familial or spousal control issues. We find evidence to support both motivations. We examine the impact of a commitment savings product in the Philippines on household decision making power and self-perception of savings behavior, as well as actual savings. The product leads to more decision making power in the household for women, and likewise more purchases of female-oriented durable goods. We also find that the product leads women who appear time-inconsistent in a baseline survey to self-report being a disciplined saver in the follow-up survey. For impact on savings balances, we find that the 81% increase in savings after one year did not crowd out savings held outside... |
| Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper |
Palavras-chave: Consumer/Household Economics. |
| Ano: 2006 |
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/28399 |
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