Facilitating Savings for Agriculture: Field Experimental Evidence from Malawi

Lasse Brune, Xavier Gine, Jessica Goldberg and Dean Yang

No 20946, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We implemented a randomized intervention among Malawian farmers aimed at facilitating formal savings for agricultural inputs. Treated farmers were offered the opportunity to have their cash crop harvest proceeds deposited directly into new bank accounts in their own names, while farmers in the control group were paid harvest proceeds in cash (the status quo). The treatment led to higher savings in the months immediately prior to the next agricultural planting season, and raised agricultural input usage in that season. We also find positive treatment effects on subsequent crop sale proceeds and household expenditures. Because the treatment effect on savings was only a small fraction of the treatment effect on the value of agricultural inputs, mechanisms other than alleviation of savings constraints per se are needed to explain the treatment’s impact on input utilization. We discuss other possible mechanisms through which treatment effects may have operated.

JEL-codes: D03 D91 O16 Q14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dev, nep-exp and nep-mfd
Note: DEV
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Published as Lasse Brune & Xavier Gin� & Jessica Goldberg & Dean Yang, 2016. "Facilitating Savings for Agriculture: Field Experimental Evidence from Malawi," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(2), pages 187 - 220.

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