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Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines

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Listed:
  • Nava Ashraf

    (Harvard Business School)

  • Dean Karlan

    (Yale University, Economic Growth Center)

  • Wesley Yin

    (University of Chicago)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Nava Ashraf & Dean Karlan & Wesley Yin, 2006. "Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines," Working Papers 949, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    • Handle: RePEc:egc:wpaper:949
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    File URL: http://www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp949.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Savings; Microfinance; Female empowerment; Household decision making; Commitment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

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