What are the Headwaters of Formal Savings? Experimental Evidence from Sri Lanka
View/ Open
Published Version
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/cid/publicationsMetadata
Show full item recordCitation
Callen, Michael, Suresh De Mel, Craig McIntosh, and Christopher Woodruff. “What Are The Headwaters of Formal Savings? Experimental Evidence from Sri Lanka.” CID Working Paper Series 2014.289, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, December 2014.Abstract
When households increase their deposits in formal bank savings accounts, what is the source of the money? We combine high-frequency surveys with an experiment in which a Sri Lankan bank used mobile Point-of-Service (POS) terminals to collect deposits directly from households each week. In this context, the headwaters of formal savings are to be found in sacrificed leisure time: households work more, and work more on the wage market when savings options improve. These results suggest that the labor allocation channel is an important mechanism linking savings opportunities to income.Terms of Use
This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#LAACitable link to this page
https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37366318
Collections
Contact administrator regarding this item (to report mistakes or request changes)