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How Gambians save and what their strategies imply for international aid

Author

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  • Shipton, Parker

Abstract

Interventions in this small impoverished West African nation have been based mainly on credit ( debt ). Public and private lending institutions have failed dramatically, with the resultant mounting debts. Yet, lenders continue extending loans into the countryside. The author suggests that there is room for new options. One of these is for financial intermediaries to subsidize savings rather than credit. The author looks at length at the question : How do Gambians save? Saving takes many forms other than money, including livestock, jewelry, store crops, and resaleable household goods. Gambians do not prefer liquidity. They often convert wealth into forms that shelter it from the daily demands of spouses, kin, neighbors, and from their own temptation. Gambian farmers choosing saving options weigh trustworthiness and convenience more heavily than real or nominal interest rates or inflationary losses. The author concludes that the Gambians need a balance between credit and saving, liquidity and illiquidity, individualism and group responsibility.

Suggested Citation

  • Shipton, Parker, 1990. "How Gambians save and what their strategies imply for international aid," Policy Research Working Paper Series 395, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:395
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Pascaline Dupas & Sarah Green & Anthony Keats & Jonathan Robinson, 2014. "Challenges in Banking the Rural Poor: Evidence from Kenya's Western Province," NBER Chapters, in: African Successes, Volume III: Modernization and Development, pages 63-101, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Shaibu Baanni Azumah & William Adzawla & Augustine Logoti Tiweh, 2015. "Analysing the effect of microenterprise development on rural households` savings in the Tolon district of Ghana: A switching regression approach," Journal of Asian Business Strategy, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(6), pages 99-108, June.
    3. Avdeenko, Alexandra & Bohne, Albrecht & Frölich, Markus, 2019. "Linking savings behavior, confidence and individual feedback: A field experiment in Ethiopia," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 122-151.
    4. Jaimovich, Dany, 2011. "Macrostructure and microstructure: Evidence from overlapping village networks in The Gambia," MPRA Paper 38932, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Jaimovich, Dany, 2015. "Missing Links, Missing Markets: Evidence of the Transformation Process in the Economic Networks of Gambian Villages," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 645-664.
    6. Pascaline Dupas & Jonathan Robinson, 2013. "Why Don't the Poor Save More? Evidence from Health Savings Experiments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(4), pages 1138-1171, June.
    7. Dorward, Andrew & Anderson, Simon & Clark, Susanne & Keane, Bernadette & Moguel, Julieta, 2001. "Asset Functions And Livelihood Strategies: A Framework For Pro-Poor Analysis, Policy And Practice," ADU Working Papers 10918, Imperial College at Wye, Department of Agricultural Sciences.

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