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The Effect of Savings Accounts on Interpersonal Financial Relationships: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Rural Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • Pascaline Dupas
  • Anthony Keats
  • Jonathan Robinson

Abstract

The welfare impact of expanding access to bank accounts depends on whether accounts crowd out pre-existing financial relationships, or whether private gains from accounts are shared within social networks. In this experiment, we provided free bank accounts to a random subset of 885 households. Across households, we document positive spillovers: treatment households become less reliant on grown children and siblings living outside their village, and become more supportive of neighbours and friends within their village. Within households, we randomised which spouse was offered an account and find no evidence of negative spillovers.

Suggested Citation

  • Pascaline Dupas & Anthony Keats & Jonathan Robinson, 2019. "The Effect of Savings Accounts on Interpersonal Financial Relationships: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Rural Kenya," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(617), pages 273-310.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:econjl:v:129:y:2019:i:617:p:273-310.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/ecoj.12553
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    Cited by:

    1. Catia Batista & Sandra Sequeira & Pedro C. Vicente, 2022. "Closing the Gender Profit Gap?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(12), pages 8553-8567, December.
    2. Aker, Jenny C. & Sawyer, Melita & Goldstein, Markus & O'Sullivan, Michael & McConnell, Margaret, 2020. "Just a bit of cushion: The role of a simple savings device in meeting planned and unplanned expenses in rural Niger," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    3. Mayra Buvinic & Megan O’Donnell, 2017. "Gender Matters in Economic Empowerment Interventions: A Research Review - Working Paper 456," Working Papers 456, Center for Global Development.
    4. Murphy, David M.A., 2023. "Sobriety, social capital, and village network structures," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    5. Pascaline Dupas & Dean Karlan & Jonathan Robinson & Diego Ubfal, 2018. "Banking the Unbanked? Evidence from Three Countries," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 257-297, April.
    6. Santiago Acerenza & Julian Martinez-Iriarte & Alejandro S'anchez-Becerra & Pietro Emilio Spini, 2025. "Bounds for within-household encouragement designs with interference," Papers 2503.14314, arXiv.org.
    7. Grigoriadis, Theocharis, 2017. "Religion, administration & public goods: Experimental evidence from Russia," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 42-60.
    8. Mayada El-Zoghbi & Nadine Chehade & Peter McConaghy & Matthew Soursourian, 2017. "The Role of Financial Services in Humanitarian Crises," World Bank Publications - Reports 26511, The World Bank Group.
    9. Costas Meghir & Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak & Ahmed Corina Mommaerts & Ahmed Melanie Morten, 2019. "Migration and Informal Insurance," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2185R, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Aug 2020.
    10. Pascaline Dupas & Dean Karlan & Jonathan Robinson & Diego Ubfal, 2018. "Banking the Unbanked? Evidence from Three Countries," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 257-297, April.
    11. Shahriar, Abu Zafar M. & Alam, Quamrul, 2024. "Violence against women, innate preferences and financial inclusion," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    12. Oriana Bandiera & Robin Burgess & Narayan Das & Selim Gulesci & Imran Rasul & Munshi Sulaiman, 2017. "Labor Markets and Poverty in Village Economies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(2), pages 811-870.
    13. Steinert, Janina I. & Zenker, Juliane & Filipiak, Ute & Movsisyan, Ani & Cluver, Lucie D. & Shenderovich, Yulia, 2018. "Do saving promotion interventions increase household savings, consumption, and investments in Sub-Saharan Africa? A systematic review and meta-analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 238-256.
    14. Galdo, Jose C., 2021. "Using Bank Savings Product Design for Empowering Women and Agricultural Development," IZA Discussion Papers 14523, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Mayra Buvinic & Megan O’Donnell, 2017. "Gender Matters in Economic Empowerment Interventions: A Research Review," Working Papers id:11926, eSocialSciences.
    16. Vincent Somville & Lore Vandewalle, 2017. "Access to Formal Banking and Household Finances: Experimental Evidence from India," CMI Working Papers 1, CMI (Chr. Michelsen Institute), Bergen, Norway.
    17. Premand, Patrick & Schnitzer, Pascale, 2025. "Impacts and Spillovers of a Low-Cost Multifaceted Economic Inclusion Program in Chad," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11084, The World Bank.
    18. 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.
    19. Adu-Ababio, Kwabena, 2024. "Microsimulation approaches to studying shocks and social protection in selected developing economies," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 1552-1576.
    20. Shahriar, Abu Zafar M. & Chase, Sarah R. & Shepherd, Dean, 2025. "Financial inclusion and low-income women's new venture initiation: A Field experiment," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 40(5).
    21. Carolina Laureti, 2017. "Why do Poor People Co-hold Debt and Liquid Savings?," Working Papers CEB 17-007, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    22. Attanasio, Orazio & Meghir, Costas & Mommaerts, Corina & Zheng, Yu, 2025. "Growing apart: Declining within- and across-locality insurance in rural China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

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