Savings by and for the Poor
A Research Review and Agenda
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23385336 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dean Karlan (0000-0003-0164-1398, Yale University), Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan (Yale University, corresponding author), Jonathan Zinman (Innovations for Poverty Action) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 36-78 |
| Publication date | 2014-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Review of Income and Wealth (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-6586 • E-ISSN: 1475-4991 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/roiw.12101 |
| PMID | 25792764 |
| PMCID | PMC4358152 |
| OpenAlex | W3124880542 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 88 |
| References cited | 95 |
The poor can and do save, but often use formal or informal instruments that have high risk, high cost, and limited functionality. This could lead to undersaving compared to a world without market or behavioral frictions. Undersaving can have important welfare consequences: variable consumption, low resilience to shocks, and foregone profitable investments. We lay out five sets of constraints that may hinder the adoption and effective usage of savings products and services by the poor: transaction costs, lack of trust and regulatory barriers, information and knowledge gaps, social constraints, and behavioral biases. We discuss each in theory, and then summarize related empirical evidence, with a focus on recent field experiments. We then put forward key open areas for research and practice.
Business · Computer security · Consumption (sociology) · Economics · Key (lock) · Microeconomics · Psychological resilience · Public economics · Social Welfare · Transaction cost · Welfare · Computer Science · Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis · Housing Market and Economics · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion
Enhancing financial inclusion in China amidst Covid-19
Turning Citizens into Investors
Six Randomized Evaluations of Microcredit
Unconditional cash transfers, health and savings
Measuring Hope
The Role of Savings and Credit in Coping with Idiosyncratic Household Shocks
Why Don't the Poor Save More? Evidence from Health Savings Experiments
The Consumption, Income, and Wealth of the Poorest
Getting to the Top of Mind
Impact of savings groups on the lives of the poor
Demand for Commitment in Credit and Saving Contracts
Migration towards Bangladesh coastlines projected to increase with sea-level rise through 2100
Analysing the Predictors of Financial Stress and Financial Well-Being among the Bottom 40 Percent (B40) Households in Malaysia
The role of mobile banking in coping with food insecurity in Burkina Faso
Drivers of sustainable financial Consumerism
Emergent poverty traps at multiple levels impede social mobility
Political empowerment of women and financial inclusion
Financial inclusion of the informal sector of marginalized counties in Kenya
The impact of temperature shocks on households’ saving behaviour in rural Ethiopia
Saving and borrowing behaviour among agropastoralists in West Pokot County, Kenya
The impact of financial literacy on access to formal financial products in Namibia
Financial inclusion and international migration in low- and middle-income countries
Role of financial literacy in investment choices of financial consumers
The impact of cash saving on the food security status of smallholder coffee farmers
Impact of financial inclusion on food security
The interconnectedness of financial inclusion and bank profitability in rising economic powers
Skills and household financial decision-making in Indonesia
Empowering rural communities
Does Poverty Undermine Cooperation in Multiethnic Settings? Evidence from a Cooperative Investment Experiment
Links Between Family Poverty and the Financial Behaviors of Adolescents
Nexus between financial inclusion and women empowerment
Normative perspectives on financial inclusion
Saving as a Path for Female Empowerment and Entrepreneurship in Rural Peru
Quantitative Study on the Impact of Branchless Banking on Microfinance Institutions
Roscas and household welfare in rural Africa
Financial inclusion for agricultural investments
Gender and financial inclusion
Does financial inclusion enhance farmers' resilience to climate change? Evidence from rural Ethiopia
Welfare Impacts of Mobile Banking Use in Rural Africa
Delving into the Determinants of Default Risk in Savings Groups
Financial Inclusion among Backward Communities
The Impact of Financial Education for Youth in Ghana
Earnings, savings, and job satisfaction in a labor-intensive export sector
Hidden income and its impact on expenditure patterns in Uganda
Does financial literacy improve financial inclusion? Cross country evidence
Taking power
Liquid milk
The effect of saving on risk attitudes and intertemporal choices
Unlocking the benefits of credit through saving
Price and control elasticities of demand for savings
Credit and saving constraints in general equilibrium
Income timing and liquidity constraints
Trust and saving in financial institutions by the poor
Loose knots
Uptake, use, and impact of Islamic savings
Seeing is believing? Evidence from an extension network experiment
Saving for dowry
Access to digital credit for smallholder farmers
Banking the poor via savings accounts
A Multifaceted Intervention with Savings Incentives to Reduce Multidimensional Child Poverty
An Untapped Instrument in the Fight Against Poverty
Effects of Financial Incentives on Saving Outcomes and Material Well‐Being
The Gender-Differential Effect of Financial Inclusion on Household Financial Resilience
Structural Change in Rural West Africa
Opening the Black Box
How Much Does Having a Bank Account Help the Poor
Empowering Sub-Saharan farmers
The role of culture and economics in household savings decisions
‘Nurture the sprouting bud; do not uproot it’ . Using saving groups to save for maternal and newborn health
Which social program supports sustainable grass-root finance? Machine-learning evidence
Digitalization and financial inclusion among women-led micro and small enterprises in Indonesia
Matching Supply With Demand
From bytes to banknotes
Legislative and Other Selected Challenges Affecting Financial Inclusion for the Poor and Low Income Earners in South Africa
Determinants of food insecurity in homeless people
Understanding Temptation Spending and Saving Behaviour Among Malian Farming Households
Save for a rainy day? How regional household savings constrain entrepreneurship after a natural disaster
Do saving promotion interventions increase household savings, consumption, and investments in Sub-Saharan Africa? A systematic review and meta-analysis
Determinants of Sustainability of Informal Community-Based Financial Groups
Pourquoi les pauvres n’épargnent-ils pas
Does the composition of financial services in a community relate to an Individual’s savings account ownership
Banking with Agents
Increasing Trust in Bankers to Enhance Savings
Poverty, Aspirations, and the Economics of Hope
Better than Cash, but Beware the Costs
Calculating Care
High Hopes
Rethinking saving
Measuring Financial Inclusion
Portfolios of the Poor
Education and saving
Using Experimental Economics to Measure Social Capital and Predict Financial Decisions
Optimal Expectations
The Economics of Roscas and Intrahousehold Resource Allocation
Savings Constraints and Microenterprise Development
A Dual-Self Model of Impulse Control
Optimism and economic choice☆
Debt Literacy, Financial Experiences, and Overindebtedness
Do Rural Banks Matter? Evidence from the Indian Social Banking Experiment
The Role of Social Capital in Financial Development
Nudging Farmers to Use Fertilizer
A Simple Model of Herd Behavior
The Role of Information and Social Interactions in Retirement Plan Decisions
Traditional trust measurement and the risk confound
The Behavioral Life‐cycle Hypothesis
Some Consequences of Having Too Little
Planning and Financial Literacy
Financial Literacy and Planning
Risk and Insurance in a Rural Credit Market
Microcredit Under the Microscope
Psychology and Economics
Golden Eggs and Hyperbolic Discounting
The Power of Suggestion
Debt literacy, financial experiences, and overindebtedness
Do Traditional Institutions Constrain Female Entrepreneurship? A Field Experiment on Business Training in India
Why Don't the Poor Save More? Evidence from Health Savings Experiments
Toward a positive theory of consumer choice
Poverty Impedes Cognitive Function
Salience and Taxation
Coarse Thinking and Persuasion
Does Africa Need a Rotten Kin Theorem? Experimental Evidence from Village Economies
Spousal Control and Intra-Household Decision Making
Teaching Entrepreneurship
Turning a Shove into a Nudge? A "Labeled Cash Transfer" for Education
Mental accounting matters
Female Empowerment
Investor protection and corporate governance
Banking the poor via savings accounts
Price and control elasticities of demand for savings
Are Americans Saving “Optimally” for Retirement
Save More TomorrowTM
Down or Out
Revising Commitments
Financial Literacy and Retirement Preparedness
You Can't Save Alone
Pretending to Be Poor
Prompting Microfinance Borrowers to Save
Mobile Phones and Economic Development in Africa
The Economic Lives of the Poor
The Exception Is the Rule
| Unique citing works | 88 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 6,77 |
| Citation span | 2013 - 2026 (14) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 81 |