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Abstract
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Before
A strong association between low financial literacy and poor financial well-being is well-documented in the literature. Thus far, findings suggest a weak, if not zero, impact of standard financial education on improving financial outcomes. The aim of this project is to test whether simplified or tailored “just-in-time” financial treatments can surpass traditional financial literacy education to improve the financial literacy and savings behaviour of women in rural household Bangladesh.
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After
We use a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) to assess whether either a simplified less intensive financial treatment or a tailored just-in-time financial treatment can perform better than traditional financial literacy education in overcoming financial inclusion barriers for a sample of young women in Bangladesh. The simplified less intensive financial treatment will entail participants self-recording daily income and expenditure using a financial diary. Financial diaries are believed to assist households to manage daily expenses, cut unnecessary expenditure and save for unforeseen expenses. The tailored just-in-time financial treatment will involve participants receiving individualized financial counselling, which will involve provision of advice on matters such as opening a bank account, obtaining credit and debt refinancing, tailored to the participants’ need.
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Last Published
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Before
November 18, 2017 09:36 AM
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After
August 07, 2018 05:45 AM
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Intervention Start Date
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Before
February 12, 2018
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After
August 12, 2018
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Primary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
Financial literacy is measured using four outcomes of interest: financial knowledge, financial confidence, financial behaviour, and financial attitude.
Savings behaviour is measured by household account balance post treatment.
Other outcomes variables of interest include women empowerment and exposure to financial instruments.
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After
Financial literacy is measured using four outcomes of interest: financial knowledge, financial confidence, financial behaviour, and financial attitude.
Savings behaviour is measured by household account balance post treatment.
Other outcomes variables of interest include women empowerment and exposure to financial instruments. Details are listed in the pre-analysis plan.
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Planned Number of Clusters
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Before
120 villages
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After
150 villages
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Planned Number of Observations
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Before
1800 women (from 1800 households), roughly 15 households per village.
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1800 women (from 1800 households), roughly 12 women/households per village.
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Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
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Before
500 women in Treatment A - simplified financial diary.
500 women in Treatment B - standard financial education.
500 women in Treatment C - financial counselling: 250 women will receive financial diary plus counselling while the other 250 will receive financial training and financial counselling
300 women in Control group.
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After
600 women in Treatment A - simplified financial diary. 300 from this arm will receive private counselling
600 women in Treatment B - standard financial education. 300 from this arm will receive private counselling
600 women in Control group.
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Power calculation: Minimum Detectable Effect Size for Main Outcomes
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Before
(This section will be updated after the pilot)
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After
Assume a minimum detectable effect size of 0.2 standard deviations when standardizing the mean values of the main outcome variables of interest. With a minimum sample size 350 for each group, the detectable effect is:
Effect 1: The impact of the financial education workshop (b1), Power = 0.96 Effect 2: The impact of financial diary (b2), Power = 0.92 Effect 3: The joint impact of financial education and financial counselling s (b3), Power = 0.85
(More details in Pre-analysis plan)
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