The Persistent Power of Behavioral Change: Long-Run Impacts of Temporary Savings Subsidies for the Poor

Simone Schaner

No 22534, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: I use a field experiment in rural Kenya to study how temporary incentives to save impact long-run economic outcomes. Study participants randomly selected to receive large temporary interest rates on an individual bank account had significantly more income and assets 2.5 years after the interest rates expired. These changes are much larger than the short-run impacts on experimental bank account use and almost entirely driven by growth in entrepreneurship. Temporary interest rates directed to joint bank accounts had no detectable long-run impacts on entrepreneurship or income, but increased investment in household public goods and spousal consensus over finances.

JEL-codes: D14 O1 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-ent, nep-exp and nep-mfd
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

Published as Simone Schaner, 2018. "The Persistent Power of Behavioral Change: Long-Run Impacts of Temporary Savings Subsidies for the Poor," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, vol 10(3), pages 67-100.

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Journal Article: The Persistent Power of Behavioral Change: Long-Run Impacts of Temporary Savings Subsidies for the Poor (2018)
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