When Can Financial Education Affect Savings Behavior? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment among Low Income Clients of Branchless Banking in India

Margherita Calderone, Nathan Fiala, Florentina Mulaj, Santadarshan Sadhu and Leopold Sarr

No 290095, Working Paper series from University of Connecticut, Charles J. Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy

Abstract: Financial literacy programs are popular, despite recent research showing no significant changes to savings behavior. We experimentally test the impact of financial literacy training on clients of a branchless banking program that offers doorstep access to banking to low income households. The intervention had significant impacts: savings in the treatment group increased by 29% ($27) within a period of one year. The increase in savings is due in part to decreases in expenditures on temptation goods. These results suggest that financial education interventions, when paired with banking experience, can be successful in changing savings outcomes.

Keywords: Financial Economics; Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 56
Date: 2014-09
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:ucozwp:290095

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.290095

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