IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/tpr/restat/v104y2022i2p306-320.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can Mobile-Linked Bank Accounts Bolster Savings? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Sri Lanka

Author

Listed:
  • Suresh de Mel

    (University of Peradeniya)

  • Craig McIntosh

    (University of California, San Diego)

  • Ketki Sheth

    (University of California, Merced)

  • Christopher Woodruff

    (University of Oxford)

Abstract

We introduce a new mobile money interface that permits Sri Lankans to deposit mobile airtime balances directly into a formal bank account. Randomizing access and prices, we find a small increase in savings deposits with the partner institution and formal banks more generally, but no change in overall savings. When the deposit transaction costs are completely removed, only 26% use the mobile deposit service and only 7% use it frequently. Our results imply that deposit transaction costs are not a significant barrier to increasing savings, limiting the potential gains of mobile-linked savings products for financial inclusion.

Suggested Citation

  • Suresh de Mel & Craig McIntosh & Ketki Sheth & Christopher Woodruff, 2022. "Can Mobile-Linked Bank Accounts Bolster Savings? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Sri Lanka," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(2), pages 306-320, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:104:y:2022:i:2:p:306-320
    DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_00956
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_00956
    Download Restriction: Access to PDF is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1162/rest_a_00956?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vera-Cossio, Diego A. & Hoffmann, Bridget & Pecha, Camilo & Gallego, Jorge & Stampini, Marco & Vargas, David & Medina, María Paula & Álvarez, Esteban, 2023. "Re-thinking Social Protection: From Poverty Alleviation to Building Resilience in Middle-Income Households," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12925, Inter-American Development Bank.
    2. Hernández Romero, Karla & Vera-Cossio, Diego A. & Hoffmann, Bridget & Pecha, Camilo, 2024. "The Promises of Digital Bank Accounts for Low-income Individuals," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 13379, Inter-American Development Bank.
    3. Yao, Becatien & Shanoyan, Aleksan & Schwab, Ben & Amanor-Boadu, Vincent, 2023. "The role of mobile money in household resilience: Evidence from Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:104:y:2022:i:2:p:306-320. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kelly McDougall (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://direct.mit.edu/journals .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.