Experimental Design
In the spring of 2013, fourth grade classrooms in Amarillo Independent School District in Amarillo, Texas took part in a field study to measure the effectiveness of access to bank accounts. Access to a savings account in school, as well as incentives to make deposits, were randomly assigned to students across schools. A total of 15 schools were randomly assigned to open in-school Kid's Bank branches of Happy State Bank, a Texas-based community bank. Another 18 schools were randomly assigned to not open a bank branch, for a total of 33 schools in the study. Half of the fourth grade students who attended schools with branches were randomly selected to receive a $25 seed deposit, if they opened an account.