Saving for Multiple Financial Needs: Evidence from Lockboxes and Mobile Money in Malawi

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Aggarwal, Shilpa; Brailovskaya, Valentina; Robinson, Jonathan
• 署名单位: Indian School of Business (ISB); University of California System; University of California Santa Cruz; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01086
• 发表日期: 2023-07
• 页码: 833-851
• 关键词: field experiment; accounts; poverty; banking; POOR

摘要

We test whether the provision of multiple labeled savings accounts affects savings and downstream outcomes in an experiment with 761 microentrepreneurs in urban Malawi. Treatment respondents received one or multiple savings accounts, in the form of lockboxes or mobile money. We find that while providing additional boxes increased savings by 40%, technical issues marred the efficacy of a second mobile money account. Data from novel high-frequency surveys suggest that both types of accounts had impacts on downstream outcomes, including farming decisions and credit extended to customers. We do not detect differential downstream effects by the number or modality of accounts.