Deposit Collecting: Unbundling the Role of Frequency, Salience, and Habit Formation in Generating Savings

Suresh de Mel, Craig McIntosh and Christopher Woodruff

American Economic Review, 2013, vol. 103, issue 3, 387-92

Abstract: We report on a field experiment using several methods for collecting deposits made in formal bank accounts in rural areas in Sri Lanka. We find that only frequent, face-to-face collection increases aggregate household savings. Collection involving community lock boxes increases balances at the collecting bank, but not overall household savings. Only community box collection appears to have the possibility of being financially viable. The various collection methods allow us to unbundle the role of frequency, salience and habit formation in deposit decisions. We find that frequency and salience affect the number of transactions, but not the level of savings.

JEL-codes: E21 G21 O16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.3.387
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.103.3.387 (application/pdf)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aer/ds/may2013/P2013_4399_ds.zip (application/zip)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aer/data/may2013/P2013_4399_app.zip (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:103:y:2013:i:3:p:387-92

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Review is currently edited by Esther Duflo

More articles in American Economic Review from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().