Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0

Author-Name: Vincent Somville 
Author-Name: Lore Vandewalle 
Title: Access to Formal Banking and Household Finances: Experimental Evidence from India
Abstract:  Access to formal banking is spreading across the world. Obtaining a bank account may transform how people manage their finances, and affect their savings and consumption. We report from a field experiment that randomly provides access to a bank account to a representative sample of villagers in rural India. The treated keep relatively important savings on their account, but reduce their other savings by a similar amount. Their household’s overall savings and expenditures do not change. We identify several barriers that may constraint total savings. 

Length: 28 pages
Creation-Date: 2017 
File-URL: https://www.cmi.no/publications/file/6257-access-to-formal-banking-and-household-finances.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf 

Number: 1
Keywords: banking
bank accounts
villages
rural
savings
Classification-JEL: 

Handle: RePEc:chm:wpaper:wp2017-1