A Review of Commitment Savings Products in Development Countries

Nava Ashraf (), Nathalie Gons, Dean Karlan and Wesley Yin
Additional contact information
Nava Ashraf: Harvard University
Nathalie Gons: Innovations for Poverty Action
Wesley Yin: Princeton University

No 45, ADB Economics Working Paper Series from Asian Development Bank

Abstract: Many financial institutions in developing countries offer savings products. Yet, little has been done to assess systematically and quantitatively the relative merits of different product designs. This paper first examines different designs that provide incentives to clients to commit to save. Mechanisms are divided into deposit side mechanisms that help clients make regular deposits, and withdrawal-side mechanisms that help clients restrict the use of their funds except for well-planned uses or emergencies. Then, using results from a short web-based survey of microfinance instititutions, we describe different commitment savings products in use around the world.

Keywords: commitment savings; financial institutions; microfinance; savings products; withdrawal mechanisms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G21 G28 O16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27 pages
Date: 2003-07-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:adbewp:0045

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