The Effect of Promoting Savings on Informal Risk Sharing: Experimental Evidence from Vulnerable Women in Kenya

Felipe Dizon, Erick Gong and Kelly Jones

Journal of Human Resources, 2020, vol. 55, issue 3, 963-998

Abstract: An increase in savings can lead to substitution away from informal risk-sharing arrangements (IRSAs), which can reduce the capacity to manage risk. We conduct a field experiment that promoted mobile bank savings among vulnerable women in Kenya. The savings promotion increased mobile bank savings and reduced risk sharing. However, we show that reduced risk sharing did not reduce the capacity to manage risk. Promoting savings directly improved the ability of women to cope with negative shocks and had no adverse spillover effects on the untreated.

JEL-codes: D14 D91 O12 O16 O17 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
Note: DOI: 10.3368/jhr.55.3.0917-9077R2
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://jhr.uwpress.org/cgi/reprint/55/3/963
A subscription is required to access pdf files. Pay per article is available.

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:uwp:jhriss:v:55:y:2020:i:3:p:963-998

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Human Resources from University of Wisconsin Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().