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Women’s financial inclusion: The role of information versus peer pressure

Last registered on July 29, 2022
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Women’s financial inclusion: The role of information versus peer pressure
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0005801
Initial registration date
July 04, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
July 08, 2022, 9:22 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
July 29, 2022, 6:52 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
India
Region
Uttar Pradesh

Primary Investigator

Name
Debayan Pakrashi
Affiliation
Economic Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute Kolkata
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Asadul Islam
PI Affiliation
Monash University
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Marcel Fafchamps
PI Affiliation
Stanford University
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Denni Tommasi
PI Affiliation
University of Bologna
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2022-07-01
End date
2023-05-01
Keywords
Finance & Microfinance, Gender, Welfare
Additional Keywords
financial inclusion, peer effects, information, gender
JEL code(s)
C93, G50, I30, J16
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The aim of this project is to understand the factors that influence the regular use of a Bank account among poor and emarginated women. This is important because it would foster financial inclusion, which would then be able to further promote gender equality in the context of a household. We wish to investigate the role of two main factors: information versus peer pressures. The outcome of this research will also have strong policy implications with a wide applicability to several settings in developing and developed countries. Indeed, if peer pressure is the critical factor (relative to pure information), then group mobilization (as a policy lever) is necessary to trigger a collective decision to adopt formal financial tools and to further promote gender equality.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Fafchamps, Marcel et al. 2022. "Women’s financial inclusion: The role of information versus peer pressure." AEA RCT Registry. July 29. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5801-1.1
Sponsors & Partners

Sponsors

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The main objective of this project is to investigate the role of information dissemination as well as social networks or peer effects as important channels to promote savings via financial inclusion at the formal institutions. Further, since most of the families have someone with a bank account due to PMJDY (Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana is a financial inclusion program of the Government of India open to Indian citizens), this gives us an opportunity to carry out an investigation into the use of social networks in the context of formal savings. To the best of our knowledge, there is no pre-existing research on this specific area, particularly in the context of financial inclusion. The proposed study will attempt to bridge this gap by focusing on rural households from the state of Uttar Pradesh.
Intervention Start Date
2022-09-01
Intervention End Date
2023-03-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Individual outcomes are:
- Total savings (calculated from passbooks),
- Frequency of visits to Bank,
- Frequency of use of financial products;
- Income,
- Entrepreneur investment,
- Assets,
- Debt,
- Subjective happiness/life satisfaction,
- Sense of financial security.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
1) To investigate if existing social networks encourage uptake of different savings schemes offered by formal financial institutions and how;
2) To investigate just the role of information dissemination via campaigns, radios, television, etc;
3) To draw new insights from the field experiment to further advance understanding of the process of diffusion of modern technology or the uptake of new; technology or acceptance of other behavioural changes promoted by the governments;
4) To understand in detail the factors that facilitate or deter any change in the rural or village communities.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The proposed Randomized Controlled Trial will cover roughly 200 villages in total, 40 villages per treatment arm (4 treatment groups and 1 control), 30 women per village in total. So, this study will cover about 6,000 women from rural households in Uttar Pradesh, India.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization will be done in office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
At the village level.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
200 villages.
Sample size: planned number of observations
6,000 women.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
200 villages in total, 40 each in 4 treatments and 1 control group.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
0.30 standard deviation
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Institutional Ethic Committee, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
IRB Approval Date
2020-01-23
IRB Approval Number
IITK/IEC/2019-20-II/17
Analysis Plan