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Price and control elasticities of demand for savings

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  • Karlan, Dean
  • Zinman, Jonathan

Abstract

A Philippine bank tested sensitivity to interest rates and account ownership requirements in 10,000 randomized door-to-door solicitations for a commitment savings account. Take-up is substantial (23%), but price elasticity of saving in this account is not significantly different from zero in either the full sample or sub-groups of plausibly marginal savers. The upper bound is less than 0.5 in the full sample, and exceeds 1.0 in only 1 of 22 sub-groups. Nor do we find sensitivity to ownership requirements.

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  • Karlan, Dean & Zinman, Jonathan, 2018. "Price and control elasticities of demand for savings," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 145-159.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:130:y:2018:i:c:p:145-159
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2017.10.004
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    3. Steinert, Janina Isabel & Vasumati Satish, Rucha & Stips, Felix & Vollmer, Sebastian, 2022. "Commitment or concealment? Impacts and use of a portable saving device: Evidence from a field experiment in urban India," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 367-398.
    4. Paul Christian & Steven Glover & Florence Kondylis & Valerie Mueller & Matteo Ruzzante & Astrid Zwager, 2022. "Do private consultants promote savings and investments in rural Mozambique?," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(1), pages 22-36, January.
    5. Galiani, Sebastian & Gertler, Paul & Navajas-Ahumada, Camila, 2022. "Trust and saving in financial institutions by the poor," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    6. Robin Burgess & Michael Greenstone & Nicholas Ryan & Anant Sudarshan, 2020. "Demand for Electricity on the Global Electrification Frontier," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2222, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    7. Kast, Felipe & Meier, Stephan & Pomeranz, Dina, 2018. "Saving more in groups: Field experimental evidence from Chile," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 275-294.
    8. Augustine Kwadwo Yeboah, 2019. "Drivers of Savings Account Ownership Status: A Cross-Sectional Analysis from Ghana," Journal of Social and Development Sciences, AMH International, vol. 10(1), pages 51-60.
    9. Shilpa Aggarwal & Valentina Brailovskaya & Jonathan Robinson, 2023. "Saving for Multiple Financial Needs: Evidence from Lockboxes and Mobile Money in Malawi," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(4), pages 833-851, July.
    10. Ariane Agunsoye & Jerome Monne & Janette Rutterford & Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos, 2022. "How gender, marital status, and gender norms affect savings goals," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(2), pages 157-183, May.

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