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Household Economic Strengthening through Saving and Budgeting: Evidence from a Field Experiment in South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Janina Isabel Steinert
  • Lucie Dale Cluver
  • Franziska Meinck
  • Jenny Doubt
  • Sebastian Vollmer

Abstract

Using data from a randomized field experiment with 552 households in South Africa, we examine the impact of a financial literacy and savings training that was integrated into a broader psychosocial parenting intervention. We document significant improvements in financial behaviors, including higher savings and lower borrowing rates. We also see wider implications for household economic welfare, expressed in reduced financial distress, better resilience to economic shocks, and a greater capacity to securing basic needs. We further find that program effects are non-differential for ultra poor participants and tend to be higher for those who reside in rural locations and live without a male partner or spouse. Overall, our findings suggest that "hybrid" program curricula that offer combinations of financial and psychosocial components might be more successful than stand-alone financial literacy training.

Suggested Citation

  • Janina Isabel Steinert & Lucie Dale Cluver & Franziska Meinck & Jenny Doubt & Sebastian Vollmer, 2017. "Household Economic Strengthening through Saving and Budgeting: Evidence from a Field Experiment in South Africa," CSAE Working Paper Series 2017-11, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    • Handle: RePEc:csa:wpaper:2017-11
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    File URL: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:e6092d78-0495-4111-8deb-29d890ade930
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial Literacy; Saving; Parenting; RCT; South Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

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