Rosca Participation in Benin: a Commitment Issue

In the light of first-hand data from a Beninese urban household survey in Cotonou, we investigate several motives aiming to explain participation in Rotating Savings and Credit ASsociations. We provide anecdotal pieces of evidence, descriptive statistics, FIML regressions and matching estimates which tend to indicate that most individuals use their participation in a rosca as a device to commit themselves to save money and to deal with self-control problems.ROSCA, self-control, commitment device, Benin

Tax Structures, Economic Growth and Development

tax structure; fiscal policy; economic growth; development.This paper investigates the relationship between tax structures and economic growth in a panel of developed and developing countries. In order to raise revenue, low-income countries have historically relied more heavily on international trade taxes, whilst richer nations employ comparatively more consumption and income taxes. Using the new Government Revenue Dataset (GRD) from the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD), we consider the effects of revenue-neutral changes in tax structure on economic growth for a panel of over 100 countries with data covering the period 1980-2010. Results from the Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CMG) estimator (Pesaran 2006) find that increases in income taxes (specifically personal income taxes) offset by reductions in trade or consumption taxes have had a negative impact on GDP growth rates. We also highlight the fact that trade liberalisation has not had any discernible positive effects on economic growth. Revenue-neutral increases in personal income taxes are found to be particularly harmful in middle- and low-income countries. Taken alongside the results of, for example, Baunsgaard and Keen (2010), this is a reminder of the difficulties of tax reform for developing countries.DfID, NORA

Is it all about Money? A Randomized Evaluation of the Impact of Insurance Literacy and Marketing Treatments on the Demand for Health Microinsurance in Senegal

In Senegal mutual health organizations (MHOs) have been present in the greater region of Thiès for years. Despite their benefits, in some areas there remain low take-up rates. We offer an insurance literacy module, communicating the benefits from health microinsurance and the functioning of MHOs, to a randomly selected sample of households in the city of Thiès. The effects of this training, and three cross-cutting marketing treatments, are evaluated using a randomized control trial. We find that the insurance literacy module has no impact, but that our marketing treatment has a significant effect on the take up decisions of households.Community based health insurance scheme, Randomized control trials, Africa, Senegal

Is it all about Money? A Randomized Evaluations of the Impact of Insurance Literacy and Marketing Treatments on the Demand for Health Microinsurance in Senegal

In Senegal mutual health organizations (MHOs) have been present in the greater region of Thiès for years. Despite their benefits, in some areas there remain low take-up rates. We offer an insurance literacy module, communicating the benefits from health microinsurance and the functioning of MHOs, to a randomly selected sample of households in the city of Thiès. The effects of this training, and three cross-cutting marketing treatments, are evaluated using a randomized control trial. We find that the insurance literacy module has no impact, but that our marketing treatment has a significant effect on the take up decisions of households.community based health insurance scheme; Randomized control trials; Africa; Senegal

Social groups and credit shocks : evidence of inequalities in consumption smoothing

A strand of research holds the view that restricting access to credit to regulate over-borrowing can worsen consumers’ financial condition. Another strand of research holds the view that access to credit in the developing countries with subprime credit markets is determined by social groupings and ethnic affiliations. By merging these two strands of research, we investigate the impact of Andhra Pradesh microfinance act (2010) on the consumption expenditure of marginalised social groups and the upper caste Hindu groups in India. We construct an aggregated district level panel data for eight quarters and estimate the impact of unanticipated policy change. The results of our analysis show that the sudden restriction of access to credit has relatively larger impact on the consumption levels of the marginalised social groups: lower castes, tribes, and Muslims. The findings also confirm the failure of contingency policy enacted for smoothing consumption.PostprintPeer reviewe

Increasing anti-malaria bednet take-up using information and distribution strategies: evidence from a field trial in Senegal

We evaluate the effects of different marketing and distribution techniques on the purchase of Long-Lasting Insecticide-Treated Nets (LL-ITN). Using an individually assigned quasi-randomised controlled trial in urban Senegal, we look at the impacts of different sale treatments. Receiving an offer to purchase an LL-ITN with a voucher valid for seven days increases purchases by 23 percentage points, compared to an on-the-spot sale offer. We find suggestive evidence that providing information is not significantly correlated to the demand for LL-ITNs, but appears to be for individuals who have never attended school and have poor knowledge of malaria

The Impact of Insurance Literacy and Marketing Treatments on the Demand for Health Microinsurance in Senegal: A Randomised Evaluation

Mutual health organisations have been present in Senegal for years. Despite their benefits, in most areas take-up rates remain low. Using randomised controlled trials, we evaluate the effect of an insurance literacy module, communicating the benefits and functioning of health microinsurance, as well as three cross-cutting marketing treatments. The results from our various marketing treatments indicate a positive and significant effect on health insurance adoption, particularly for poor households, increasing take-up by around 35-40%. The insurance literacy module does not seem to have a positive impact on take-up decisions. We attempt to provide different contextual reasons for this result

Social groups and credit shocks : evidence of inequalities in consumption smoothing

A strand of research holds the view that restricting access to credit to regulate over-borrowing can worsen consumers’ financial condition. Another strand of research holds the view that access to credit in the developing countries with subprime credit markets is determined by social groupings and ethnic affiliations. By merging these two strands of research, we investigate the impact of Andhra Pradesh microfinance act (2010) on the consumption expenditure of marginalised social groups and the upper caste Hindu groups in India. We construct an aggregated district level panel data for eight quarters and estimate the impact of unanticipated policy change. The results of our analysis show that the sudden restriction of access to credit has larger impact on the consumption levels of the marginalised social groups: lower castes, tribes, and Muslims. The findings also confirm the failure of contingency policy enacted for smoothing consumption.Publisher PD