Can the Poor Save More? Evidence from Bangladesh

Matteo Marinangeli () and Andrea Presbitero

No 57, Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers from Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences

Abstract: Microsavings contribute to smooth consumption, face emergencies and increase welfare of poor households and to empower and foster investment opportunities for poor women. We take advantage of an original survey submitted to 98 Bangladeshi women member of Hitaishi, a small Dhaka-based microfinance institution (MFI), to analyze the determinants and the effects of voluntary microsavings for poor households. The analysis of saving strategies confirms that the poor are financially sophisticated and use several different (formal and informal) savings devices. Different econometric exercises show that time inconsistency play a key role in women's attitude to voluntary save, which increases also with MFI membership. Distinctive patterns emerge in the choice of formal and informal savings institutions. We also find that the capacity to cover unexpected expenditures and over-indebtedness are less likely to occur among voluntary savers.

Keywords: Bangladesh; Microfinance; Savings (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F33 F34 F35 O11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23
Date: 2011-11
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://docs.dises.univpm.it/web/quaderni/pdfmofir/Mofir057.pdf First version, 2011 (application/pdf)

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:anc:wmofir:57

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers from Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Maurizio Mariotti ().