TY - JOUR
T1 - Savings in transnational households
T2 - A field experiment among migrants from El Salvador
AU - Ashraf, Nava
AU - Aycinena, Diego
AU - Claudia Martínez, A.
AU - Yang, Dean
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Copyright:
Copyright 2015 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/5/1
Y1 - 2015/5/1
N2 - We implemented a randomized field experiment that tested ways to stimulate migrants' savings in their origin country. We find that migrants value opportunities to exert greater control over financial activities in their home countries. We offered U.S.-based migrants bank accounts in El Salvador, randomly varying migrant control over El Salvador- based savings by offering different accounts across treatments. Migrants offered the greatest degree of control accumulated the most savings. Impacts likely 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.
AB - We implemented a randomized field experiment that tested ways to stimulate migrants' savings in their origin country. We find that migrants value opportunities to exert greater control over financial activities in their home countries. We offered U.S.-based migrants bank accounts in El Salvador, randomly varying migrant control over El Salvador- based savings by offering different accounts across treatments. Migrants offered the greatest degree of control accumulated the most savings. Impacts likely 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.
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U2 - 10.1162/REST_a_00462
DO - 10.1162/REST_a_00462
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84922500506
SN - 0034-6535
VL - 97
SP - 332
EP - 351
JO - Review of Economics and Statistics
JF - Review of Economics and Statistics
IS - 2
ER -