Access to Formal Banking and Household Finances: Experimental Evidence from India

Vincent Somville and Lore Vandewalle

No 1, CMI Working Papers from CMI (Chr. Michelsen Institute), Bergen, Norway

Abstract: Access to formal banking is spreading across the world. Obtaining a bank account may transform how people manage their finances, and affect their savings and consumption. We report from a field experiment that randomly provides access to a bank account to a representative sample of villagers in rural India. The treated keep relatively important savings on their account, but reduce their other savings by a similar amount. Their household’s overall savings and expenditures do not change. We identify several barriers that may constraint total savings.

Keywords: banking; bank; accounts; villages; rural; savings (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2017
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-mfd
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