Working Paper: NBER ID: w20024
Authors: Nava Ashraf; Diego Aycinena; Claudia MartÃnez; Dean Yang
Abstract: We implemented a randomized field experiment that tested ways to stimulate savings by international migrants in their origin country. We find that migrants value and take advantage of opportunities to exert greater control over financial activities in their home countries. In partnership with a Salvadoran bank, we offered U.S.-based migrants bank accounts in El Salvador. We randomly varied migrant control over El Salvador-based savings by offering different types of accounts across treatment groups. Migrants offered the greatest degree of control accumulated the most savings at the partner bank, compared to others offered less or no control over savings. Impacts are likely to represent increases in total savings: there is no evidence that savings increases were simply reallocated from other savings mechanisms. Enhanced control over home-country savings does not affect remittances sent home by migrants.
Keywords: savings; migrants; transnational households; financial control; remittances
JEL Codes: F22; O16
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Increased savings accumulation (E21) | Not reallocating from other savings mechanisms (D14) |
| Increased savings accumulation (E21) | No effect on level of remittances sent home (F24) |
| Demand for control (D10) | Increased savings accumulation (E21) |
| Greatest degree of control over savings accounts (D14) | Increased savings accumulation (E21) |