Commitments to Save: A Field Experiment in Rural Malawi
Commitments to Save: A Field Experiment in Rural Malawi
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DOI：
10.1596/1813-9450-5748
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发表时间：
2011-08
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Lasse Brune;X. Giné;Jessica Goldberg;Dean Yang
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Lasse Brune;X. Giné;Jessica Goldberg;Dean Yang
本文报道了一项随机分配小规模经济作物农民正式储蓄账户的实地实验结果。作者与马拉维的一家小额信贷机构合作，测试了两种主要治疗方法，提供：1）“普通”账户，或2）普通和“承诺”账户。承诺账户允许客户限制访问自己的资金，直到他们选择的未来日期。对照组没有提供任何帐户，但与治疗组一起跟踪。只有承诺治疗对随后的结果有统计学意义的影响。这对下一个种植季节之前的存款和提款、种植中的农业投入使用、随后收获的作物销售以及收获后期间的家庭支出都产生了积极和巨大的影响。在一组关键结果中，承诺储蓄治疗比普通储蓄治疗有更大的影响。更多的证据表明，承诺的积极影响来自于不让自己的社交网络分享资金。
This paper reports the results of a field experiment that randomly assigned smallholder cash crop farmers formal savings accounts. In collaboration with a microfinance institution in Malawi, the authors tested two primary treatments, offering either: 1)"ordinary"accounts, or 2) both ordinary and"commitment"accounts. Commitment accounts allowed customers to restrict access to their own funds until a future date of their choosing. A control group was not offered any account but was tracked alongside the treatment groups. Only the commitment treatment had statistically significant effects on subsequent outcomes. The effects were positive and large on deposits and withdrawals immediately prior to the next planting season, agricultural input use in that planting, crop sales from the subsequent harvest, and household expenditures in the period after harvest. Across the set of key outcomes, the commitment savings treatment had larger effects than the ordinary savings treatment. Additional evidence suggests that the positive impacts of commitment derive from keeping funds from being shared with one's social network.