Due to the absence of efficient credit and insurance markets, household savings are often a crucial determinant of welfare in developing countries. Without savings, households have few other mechanisms to smooth out unexpected variations in their income, and so shocks, such as health emergencies, can force households into selling assets or taking on debt. Additionally, since savings are one of the few means to accumulate assets in the absence of credit and insurance markets, the capacity to save becomes one of the main vehicles of social mobility and of enhancing future income-earning possibilities. Many people express a desire to save more in the future, but when the time comes, find it difficult to do so. Financial institutions have designed saving products to help clients commit to saving in the future, however the effectiveness of many such products has yet to be evaluated.

The savings rate in Bolivia is low compared to elsewhere in the South American region. Encouraging savings, however, can be costly and risky. Since microfinance institutions (MFIs) often struggle to control costs and are highly risk averse, many MFIs in Bolivia have preferred to recapitalize their loan portfolio with ‘easy money’ such as donor funds and concessionary loans. However, some MFIs in Bolivia are now beginning to realize that, while savings services seem to be more costly and risky relative to other sources of financing, they may be handicapping themselves by not developing robust deposit taking services and the systems to support them. Clients of the for-profit bank Ecofuturo express a clear desire to save: over 56,000 clients held savings accounts in 2008, a greater number even than the approximately 42,500 active borrowers.[1] One of the savings accounts offered by the bank is a “programmed” savings account, which offers clients a favorable interest rate and free life and accident insurance in exchange for making regular deposits and accepting limits on withdrawals.  In particular, clients must make a deposit each month and can withdraw funds from the savings account only in the month of December.   Yet despite the popularity of the savings accounts, over 40% of savings clients fail to deposit each month as required.

Researchers are working with Ecofuturo to measure the effectiveness of sending text message reminders to clients holding these programmed savings accounts.  The evaluation focuses on a specific programmed savings account called Ecoaguinaldo that is similar to a Christmas Savings Club. The Ecoaguinaldo mimicks the aguinaldo, the year-end bonus many salaried Bolivians receive at the year’s end. The Ecoaguinaldo is used by unsalaried workers and those who want to supplement existing savings accounts, as well as by small business owners who wish to ensure that they have sufficient funds to provide their employees with the expected holiday bonus.  Clients typically open an Ecoaguinaldo account at the beginning of the year and withdraw the savings they have accumulated over the year in December. Receiving a lump sum in December allows clients to meet their end-of-the year financial obligations. The text message reminders provide an opportunity to explore what types of messages are most effective at motivating clients to follow through on their desires to save.

Half of the savings clients with a listed cell phone number were randomly selected to receive a monthly text message reminding them about their Ecoaguinaldo account. There were four distinct messages, which combined a mention of either the savings goal (monthly goal amount in order to receive a year end monetary bonus) or the reward (an active and free life insurance product if all monthly deposits made), and framed the message as either a loss or gain.  The messages to the four treatment groups were:

1.   Goal-Gain: Earn your Aguinaldo! With this month's deposit you will be one step closer to reaching your savings goal.

2.   Goal-Loss: Don't fail to earn you Aguinaldo! If you miss this month's deposit you may not reach your savings goal.

3.   Reward-Gain: Earn your reward! Don't forget you deposit this month. Remember, you will earn a reward of X if you make all of your deposits on time.

4.   Reward-Loss: Don't lose your reward! Don't forget you deposit this month. Remember, you will lose your reward of X if you do not make all of your deposits on time.

Half of the people who received messages in 2008 were in the comparison group the next year, so that the impact of receiving messages one year but not the next could be measured. In the last three months of the project in 2008, the number of treatments was doubled to eight. Each of the four original treatments were split in half, and preceded by the phrase “Ecofuturo supports your decision to save,” to one of the halves. Based upon the 2008 results, in 2009 only messages that focused on the reward were sent.

Overall the reminder message increased savings balances weakly (not statistically significant) and the probability of meeting the savings goal of making one deposit a month by 3%. When results are pooled across similar experiments in Peru and the Philippines, we increase the power of our study, finding the same sized effects statistically significant at the 10% level for savings balances and the 1% level for the proportion of clients meeting their goal.  Messages that mentioned the incentives of maintaining your life insurance policy and receiving reward interest were most effective, increasing savings balances by 10%.  We see no difference between the effectiveness of messages framed with “gain” and “loss language.”  Preliminary results from 2009 suggest that the effectiveness of reminders may decrease over time.  The increase in savings due to the reminders was large enough to make it a profitable venture for the bank. Moving forward, reminders will be a standard component to the bank’s programmed savings accounts.

Health shocks, such as illness or injury, have the potential to cause significant financial strain for low income households, possibly contributing to late payment or default among microcredit borrowers. Insurance could protect households from health shocks, but is unavailable to many in developing countries. High transaction costs and information problems complicate efforts to offer health insurance in a cost-effective way. There is also potential for moral hazard: once clients become insured, they may be less inclined to care for their health. Adverse selection may also occur, as clients predisposed to sickness may be those most willing to purchase insurance, dampening the profitability of insurers. But research has failed to produce a consensus on the impact of adverse selection and moral hazard for insurers in the developing world. How will these impact the market for health insurance? And how will health insurance impact the lives of microcredit clients?

The majority of residents in the Visayas and Northern Mindanao regions of the Philippines live in small towns and rural villages. A large for-profit bank, The Green Bank of Caraga, has been a strong presence in these regions for the past decade. The majority of microfinance clients they service engage in small-scale sales or work as tailors, drivers of local transport, and operators of bakeshops and roadside eateries. Anecdotal information suggests that health shocks are a leading cause of default and drop-out among their clients. Most of the respondents in this study reported that their ability work or do related productive activities was restricted at least some of the time.

Researchers worked with the health insurer Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), which offers the KaSAPI program to help organizations such as microfinance institutions provide affordable health insurance to their members. KaSAPI provided information about the availability and benefits of the insurance to microfinance clients through a marketing campaign. Bank clients were able to use existing savings or loan proceeds to pay for the insurance premium of 300 Philippine Pesos (approximately US$6) per quarter.

Clients were randomly assigned to compulsory insurance, voluntary insurance, or no insurance to serve as a comparison. For clients in the voluntary treatment group, loan officers presented the schedule of PhilHealth benefits and explained that the bank was offering KaSAPI as an optional service for its clients. Premiums were deducted from the loan proceeds. For clients in the compulsory treatment group, loan officers presented PhilHealth materials but also explained that PhilHealth was now a requirement to continue participating in the lending program. Clients’ loans in compulsory PhilHealth treatment group were not released unless they agreed to the premium deduction from their loan proceeds.

End line surveys will establish whether access to health insurance increased risk-taking behavior, if it improved the health status of beneficiaries and if formal insurance crowded out informal insurance arrangements. Evidence will also reveal how health insurance affected institutional outcomes such as profit, client retention, and default.

Kenya’s horticultural sector, which includes fruit and vegetable production, has received a great deal of attention over the past decade due to the rapid and sustained growth of its exports to Europe. Although Europe’s appetite for Kenyan agriculture exports has been great, small farmers have largely failed to cash in on this opportunity. Many farmers instead receive below-market prices for their crops by selling them at the local market or to intermediaries, who then resell the produce at regional market centers or to export firms. In the study sample, about half of the household income came from agriculture, and most owned the land they cultivated, which was usually about one acre. Farmers grew subsistence crops (beans, maize, potatoes, and kale) 50 percent of the time and cash crops (coffee, bananas, and tomatoes) 34 percent of the time. Only 12 percent of farmers grew any export crops.  

In collaboration with DrumNet, a Kenyan NGO, researchers evaluated whether a package of services could help small farmers adopt, finance, and market export crops, and thus make more income. DrumNet tried to link smallholder farmers to commercial banks, retail farm suppliers, transportation services, and exporters. To be a member of DrumNet, a farmer had to be a member of a registered self-help group (SHG), express interest in growing export crops marketed by DrumNet (i.e. French beans, baby corn, or passion fruit), and have irrigated land. 

In 2003, researchers randomly divided the 36 active self-help groups (SHGs) in the Gichugu area into three equal groups: the first treatment group received all DrumNet services; the second treatment group received all DrumNet services except for credit; and the third served as the comparison.

All individuals in the two treatment groups received a four-week orientation course, which explained the financing and selling process, and good agricultural practices. In additional, all treatment individuals opened a personal savings account with a local commercial bank to accommodate possible future business transactions. Individuals in the credit treatment group also contributed the equivalent of a week’s labor wages to an insurance fund, which would serve as partial collateral for a line of credit. After being organized into groups of five, which were jointly liable for individual loans taken out, individuals in the credit treatment group received an in-kind loan from a local agriculture supply store.

At harvest time, for individuals in both treatment groups, DrumNet negotiated prices with an exporter and arranged a produce pickup. Once the produce was delivered to the exporter, the exporter payed DrumNet who, after deducting any loan repayments, credited the remainder to the individual savings accounts that each farmer opened when they registered. 

Impact of the DrumNet Program: One year after the program began, treatment individuals were 19.2 percentage points more likely to be growing an export crop, but there were no significant gains in income for the full sample. However, among first-time growers of export-oriented crops, program participation led to a 31.9 percent increase in income.

Out of the twelve SHGs in each treatment group, ten decided to take advantage of DrumNet services when credit was offered, compared to only five of twelve when it was not, implying that farmers perceived credit as an important factor for cultivating export crops. However, access to credit had no effect on income gains compared to no-credit SHG groups. 

Long-term Consequences: Unfortunately, one year after the evaluation ended, the exporter refused to continue buying from the DrumNet farmers since none of the SHGs had obtained EU export certifications. This led to DrumNet’s collapse as farmers’ export crops were left to rot and loans went into default. Farmers returned to growing for local markets, underscoring the original concerns over export market risk.