The Impact of Subsidy Delivery Method on Savings Behavior: Experimental Evidence

Abhijit Banerjee, Claudia Martínez A. and Esteban Puentes

No 13219, IDB Publications (Working Papers) from Inter-American Development Bank

Abstract: We examine the impact of offering conditional cash transfer (CCT) beneficiaries the choice to receive cash transfers in bank accounts instead of cash. We investigate the effects on savings behavior and downstream outcomes such as assets and trust. We find, on average, no significant impact on overall savings or downstream outcomes. However, among individuals with nonpositive balances prior to the offering, we observe an increase in balances in savings accounts and in the transactional accounts in which the subsidies were initially deposited. These findings underscore the potential of using bank accounts to encourage savings, particularly for individuals with limited prior savings.

Keywords: Financial Access; Banking accounts; savings (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D14 E21 G20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
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Working Paper: The Impact of Subsidy Delivery Method on Savings Behavior: Experimental Evidence (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:idb:brikps:13219

DOI: 10.18235/0005259

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