Savings Constraints and Microenterprise Development: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Kenya - eScholarship

摘要: This paper presents results from a field experiment designed to test whether savings constraints prevent the self-employed increasing size of their businesses. We opened interest-free accounts in local village bank rural Kenya for randomly selected sample poor daily income earners (such as market vendors), and collected unique dataset constructed self- reported logbooks that respondents filled on basis. Despite fact paid no interest featured substantial withdrawal fees, take-up usage was high among women. In addition, we find had substantial, positive impacts productive investment levels expenditures women, but effect men. These imply fraction face important have demand formal saving devices (even those offer negative de facto rates). also some suggestive evidence female entrepreneurs draw down working capital response health shocks, enabled treatment group cope with these shocks without having liquidate inventories.