|
on Financial Literacy and Education |
|
Issue of 2020‒03‒09
four papers chosen by |
| By: | Coville,Aidan; Di Maro,Vincenzo; Dunsch,Felipe Alexander; Zottel,Siegfried |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the immediate and medium-term behavioral response to an emotional trigger designed to affect biases in intertemporal financial decisions. The emotional trigger is provided by a narrative portraying the catastrophic consequences of poor financial choices. Even when people are fully aware of the most appropriate action to take, cognitive biases may prevent this knowledge from translating into action. The paper contributes to the literature by directly testing the importance of linking emotional stimulus to financial messages, to influence borrowing and saving decisions, and identifying the interaction between emotional stimulus and the opportunity to act on this stimulus. The study randomly assigned individuals to a featured production -- a Nollywood (the Nigerian Hollywood) movie -- on the financial consequences of poor borrowing and saving behavior. This treatment is interacted with the option of opening a savings account at the screening of the movie. At the exit of the screening, individuals in the financial education movie treatment are more likely to open a savings account than individuals in the placebo movie treatment. However, the effects dissipate quickly. When savings and borrowing behavior is measured four months later, the study finds no differences between treatments. The paper concludes that emotional triggers delivered in the context of a one-time feature film might not be enough to secure sustained changes in behavior. |
| Keywords: | Educational Sciences,Primary Metals,Gender and Development,Financial Literacy,Access to Finance |
| Date: | 2019–06–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8920&r=all |
| By: | Alan Gelb (Center for Global Development); Diego Castrillon (Center for Global Development) |
| Abstract: | Onerous KYC documentation requirements are widely recognized as a potential constraint to full financial inclusion. However, it is sometimes difficult to judge the extent to which this constraint is a serious or binding one, relative to the many other factors that can limit access to finance or demand for financial services. The paper considers this question, distinguishing between different types of documentation and different financial market segments according to their KYC requirements. Using data from several sources it then looks at cross-country patterns which provide some suggestive evidence on the conditions under which particular requirements are more or less likely to pose serious constraints. It concludes with policy suggestions, including on the use of technology to help ease the burden of documentary requirements while still maintaining financial integrity. |
| Keywords: | documentation, identification, financial inclusion, KYC |
| JEL: | G21 G23 G28 L51 O16 O31 O50 |
| Date: | 2019–12–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:522&r=all |
| By: | Bedoya Arguelles,Guadalupe; Coville,Aidan; Haushofer,Johannes; Isaqzadeh,Mohammad Razaq; Shapiro,Jeremy |
| Abstract: | The share of people living in extreme poverty fell from 36 percent in 1990 to 10 percent in 2015 but has continued to increase in many fragile and conflict-affected areas where half of the extreme poor are expected to reside by 2030. These areas are also where the least evidence exists on how to tackle poverty. This paper investigates whether the Targeting the Ultra Poor program can lift households out of poverty in a fragile context: Afghanistan. In 80 villages in Balkh province, 1,219 of the poorest households were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. Women in treatment households received a one-off"big-push"package, including a transfer of livestock assets, cash consumption stipend, skills training, and coaching. One year after the program ended -- two years after assets were transferred -- significant and large impacts are found across all the primary pre-specified outcomes: consumption, assets, psychological well-being, total time spent working, financial inclusion, and women's empowerment. Per capita consumption increases by 30 percent (USD 24 purchasing power parity, USD 7 nominal per month) with respect to the control group, and the share of households below the national poverty line decreases from 82 percent in the control group to 62 percent in the treatment group. Using modest assumptions about consumption impacts, the intervention has an estimated internal rate of return of 26 percent, excluding non-monetized improvements in psychological well-being, women's empowerment, and children's health and education. These findings suggest that"big-push"interventions can dramatically reduce poverty in fragile and conflict-affected regions. |
| Keywords: | Inequality,Livestock and Animal Husbandry,Educational Sciences,Gender and Development,Services&Transfers to Poor,Disability,Economic Assistance,Access of Poor to Social Services,Income |
| Date: | 2019–06–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8877&r=all |
| By: | Asongu, Simplice A; Odhiambo, Nicholas M |
| Abstract: | This study provides thresholds of inequality that should not be exceeded if gender inclusive education is to enhance gender inclusive formal economic participation in sub-Saharan Africa. The empirical evidence is based on the Generalised Method of Moments and data from 42 countries during the period 2004-2014. The following findings are established. First, inclusive tertiary education unconditionally promotes gender economic inclusion while the interaction between tertiary education and inequality is unfavourable to gender economic inclusion. Second, a Gini coefficient that nullifies the positive incidence of inclusive tertiary education on female labour force participation is 0.562. Second, the Gini coefficient and the Palma ratio that crowd-out the negative unconditional effects of inclusive tertiary education on female unemployment are 0.547 and 6.118, respectively. Third, a 0.578 Gini coefficient, a 0.680 Atkinson index and a 6.557 Palma ratio are critical masses that wipe-out the positive unconditional effects of inclusive tertiary education on female employment. Findings associated with lower levels of education are not significant. As the main policy implication, income inequality should not be tolerated above the established thresholds in order for gender inclusive education to promote gender inclusive formal economic participation. Other implications are discussed in the light of Sustainable Development Goals. This research complements the existing literature by providing inequality thresholds that should not be exceeded in order for gender inclusive education to promote the involvement of women in the formal economic sector. |
| Keywords: | Africa; Inequality; Gender; Inclusive development |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uza:wpaper:26281&r=all |