Deposit Collectors

28 Pages Posted: 8 Dec 2005

See all articles by Nava Ashraf

Nava Ashraf

Harvard University - Business School (HBS)

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)

Wesley Yin

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

Date Written: December 2005

Abstract

Informal lending and savings institutions exist around the world, and often include regular door-to-door deposit collection of cash. Some banks have adopted similar services in order to expand access to banking services in areas that lack physical branches. Using a randomized control trial, we investigate determinants of participation in a deposit collection service and evaluate the impact of offering the service for micro-savers of a rural bank in the Philippines. Of 137 individuals offered the service in the treatment group, 38 agreed to sign-up, and 20 regularly used the service. Take-up is predicted by distance to the bank (a measure of transaction costs of depositing without the service) as well as being married (a suggestion that household bargaining issues are important). Those offered the service saved 188 pesos more (which equates to about a 25% increase in savings stock) and were slightly less likely to borrow from the bank.

Keywords: Savings behavior, microfinance, field experiment, savings mobilization, deposit collector

JEL Classification: D1, D9, G1, G2, O1

Suggested Citation

Ashraf, Nava and Karlan, Dean S. and Karlan, Dean S. and Yin, Wesley, Deposit Collectors (December 2005). Yale University Economic Growth Center Discussion Paper No. 930, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=868661

Nava Ashraf

Harvard University - Business School (HBS) ( email )

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Dean S. Karlan (Contact Author)

Yale University ( email )

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Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management ( email )

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Innovations for Poverty Action ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

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Wesley Yin

University of Chicago - Harris School of Public Policy ( email )

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

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