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Financial Education and Access to Savings Accounts: Complements or Substitutes? Evidence from Ugandan Youth Clubs

Author Info

Listed author(s):
  • Julian C. Jamison
  • Dean Karlan
  • Jonathan Zinman

Abstract

Evidence on the effectiveness of financial education and formal savings account access is lacking, particularly for youth. We randomly assign 250 youth clubs to receive either financial education, access to a cheap group account, or both. The financial education treatments increase financial literacy; the account-only treatment does not. Administrative data shows the education plus account treatment increases bank savings relative to account-only. But survey-measured total savings shows roughly equal increases across all treatment arms. Earned income also increases in all treatment arms. We find little evidence that education and account access are strong complements, and some evidence they are substitutes.

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File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w20135.pdf
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 20135.

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Date of creation: May 2014
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20135
Note: DEV LE LS
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Keywords:

Find related papers by JEL classification:

  • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
  • D91 - Microeconomics - - Intertemporal Choice - - - Intertemporal Household Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
  • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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  1. Simone Schaner, 2016. "The Persistent Power of Behavioral Change: Long-Run Impacts of Temporary Savings Subsidies for the Poor," NBER Working Papers 22534, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  2. Karlan, Dean & Ratan, Aishwarya Lakshmi & Zinman, Jonathan, 2013. "Savings by and for the Poor: A Research Review and Agenda," Working Papers 118, Yale University, Department of Economics.
  3. Pascaline Dupas & Jonathan Robinson, 2013. "Savings Constraints and Microenterprise Development: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Kenya," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 163-192, January.
  4. Nava Ashraf & Dean Karlan & Wesley Yin, 2006. "Tying Odysseus to the Mast: Evidence From a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 121(2), pages 635-672.
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Cited by:

  1. Calderone, Margherita & Fiala, Nathan & Mulaj, Florentina & Sadhu, Santadarshan & Sarr, Leopold, 2014. "When Can Financial Education Affect Savings Behavior? Evidence From A Randomized Experiment Among Low Income Clients of Branchless Banking in India," Working Papers 32, University of Connecticut, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Charles J. Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy.
  2. Kaiser, Tim & Menkhoff, Lukas, 2017. "Does Financial Education Impact Financial Literacy and Financial Behavior, and if so, When?," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 37, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
  3. Cai, Jing & Song, Changcheng, 2017. "Do disaster experience and knowledge affect insurance take-up decisions?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 83-94.
  4. Jing Cai & Changcheng Song, 2016. "Do Disaster Experience and Knowledge Affect Insurance Take-up Decisions?," NBER Working Papers 22403, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  5. Tim Kaiser & Lukas Menkhoff, 2016. "Does Financial Education Impact Financial Literacy and Financial Behavior, and if So, When?," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1562, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.

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