Banking the Unbanked? Evidence from Three Countries

Karlan, Dean S.; Dupas, Pascaline; Robinson, Jonathan; Ubfal, Diego

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2815092

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Banking the Unbanked? Evidence from Three Countries

54 Pages Posted: 29 Jul 2016

See all articles by Dean S. Karlan

Dean S. Karlan

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)

Pascaline Dupas

Stanford University

Jonathan Robinson

University of California, Santa Cruz

Diego Ubfal

Bocconi University

There are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: July 13, 2016

Abstract

We experimentally test the impact of expanding access to basic bank accounts in Uganda, Malawi, and Chile. Over two years, 17%, 10%, and 3% of treatment individuals made five or more deposits, respectively. Average monthly deposits for them were at the 79th, 91st, and 96th percentiles of baseline savings. Survey data show no clearly discernible intention-to-treat effects on savings or any downstream outcomes. This suggests that policies merely focused on expanding access to basic accounts are unlikely to improve welfare noticeably since impacts, even if present, are likely small and diverse.

Keywords: financial access, savings, banking, micro-finance, field experiment, multicountry, Uganda, Malawi, Chile

JEL Classification: C93, D14, G21, O12, O16

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Karlan, Dean S. and Karlan, Dean S. and Dupas, Pascaline and Robinson, Jonathan and Ubfal, Diego, Banking the Unbanked? Evidence from Three Countries (July 13, 2016). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2815092 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2815092