Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines

Ashraf, Nava; Karlan, Dean S.; Yin, Wesley

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Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines

CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP6195

29 Pages Posted: 20 May 2008

See all articles by Nava Ashraf

Nava Ashraf

Harvard University - Business School (HBS)

Yale University; Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management; Innovations for Poverty Action; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Wesley Yin

University of Chicago - Harris School of Public Policy; University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - School of Public Policy & Social Research

There are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: March 2007

Abstract

Female 'empowerment' has increasingly become a policy goal, both as an end to itself and as a means to achieving other development goals. Microfinance in particular has often been argued, but not without controversy, to be a tool for empowering women. Here, using a randomized controlled trial, we examine whether access to an individually-held commitment savings product leads to an increase in female decision-making power within the household. We find positive impacts, particularly for women who have below median decision-making power in the baseline, and we find this leads to a shift towards female-oriented durables goods purchased in the household.

Keywords: Commitment, female empowerment, household decision making, microfinance, savings

JEL Classification: D12, D63, D91, J16, O12, O16

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Ashraf, Nava and Karlan, Dean S. and Karlan, Dean S. and Yin, Wesley, Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines (March 2007). CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP6195, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1134236