Facilitating Savings for Agriculture: Field Experimental Evidence from Malawi

57 Pages Posted: 9 Feb 2015 Last revised: 27 Mar 2022

See all articles by Lasse Brune

Lasse Brune

Northwestern University - Buffett Institute for Global Studies

Lasse Brune

Yale University - Economic Growth Center

Xavier Giné

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)

Jessica Goldberg

University of Maryland, Department of Economics

Dean Yang

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Department of Economics

Date Written: February 2015

Abstract

We implemented a randomized intervention among Malawian farmers aimed at facilitating formal savings for agricultural inputs. Treated farmers were offered the opportunity to have their cash crop harvest proceeds deposited directly into new bank accounts in their own names, while farmers in the control group were paid harvest proceeds in cash (the status quo). The treatment led to higher savings in the months immediately prior to the next agricultural planting season, and raised agricultural input usage in that season. We also find positive treatment effects on subsequent crop sale proceeds and household expenditures. Because the treatment effect on savings was only a small fraction of the treatment effect on the value of agricultural inputs, mechanisms other than alleviation of savings constraints per se are needed to explain the treatment’s impact on input utilization. We discuss other possible mechanisms through which treatment effects may have operated.

Suggested Citation

Brune, Lasse and Brune, Lasse and Gine, Xavier and Goldberg, Jessica and Yang, Dean and Yang, Dean, Facilitating Savings for Agriculture: Field Experimental Evidence from Malawi (February 2015). NBER Working Paper No. w20946, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2562236

Lasse Brune (Contact Author)

Northwestern University - Buffett Institute for Global Studies ( email )

1902 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/site/brunelassef/

Lasse Brune

Yale University - Economic Growth Center ( email )

Box 208269
New Haven, CT 06520-8269
United States

Xavier Gine

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG) ( email )

1818 H. Street, N.W.
MSN3-311
Washington, DC 20433
United States

HOME PAGE: https://sites.google.com/site/decrgxaviergine/

Jessica Goldberg

University of Maryland, Department of Economics ( email )

College Park, MD 20742
United States

Dean Yang

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy ( email )

440 Lorch Hall
611 Tappan Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
United States
734-764-6158 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.umich.edu/~deanyang/

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Department of Economics

611 Tappan Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1220
United States

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