Competing Conceptions of Risk

Recent literature is said to reflect growing acknowledgment of multiple conceptions of risk but often to obscure an important distinction. Building on work of Kristin Shrader-Frechette, the authors explore the potential for debate over competing philosophical conceptions of risk

Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines

Female "empowerment" has increasingly become a policy goal, both as an end to itself and as a means to achieving other development goals. Microfinance in particular has often been argued, but not without controversy, to be a tool for empowering women. Here, using a randomized controlled trial, we examine whether access to an individually-held commitment savings product leads to an increase in female decision-making power within the household. We find positive impacts, particularly for women who have below median decision-making power in the baseline, and we find this leads to a shift towards female-oriented durables goods purchased in the household.Savings, Microfinance, Female empowerment, Household decision making, Commitment

Household Decision making and Savings Impacts: Further Evidence from a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines

Commitment devices for savings could benefit those with self-control as well as familial or spousal control issues. We examine the impact of a commitment savings product in the Philippines on household decision making power and savings attitudes. We find evidence to support both types of impacts. The product leads to more decision making power in the household for women, and likewise more purchases of female-oriented durable goods. We also find that the product leads women who appear time inconsistent in a baseline survey to self-report being a disciplined saver in the follow-up survey. For impact on savings balances, we find that the 81% increase in savings after one year did not crowd-out savings held outside of the participating bank, but that the longer-term impact (two-and-a-half years) on bank savings dissipated to only a 33% increase (which is no longer statistically significant). We discuss reasons why the effect dissipated and the implications for designing and implementing sustainable, equilibrium-shifting interventions.savings, microfinance, female empowerment, household decision making, commitment

Deposit Collectors

Informal lending and savings institutions exist around the world, and often include regular door-to-door deposit collection of cash. Some banks have adopted similar services in order to expand access to banking services in areas that lack physical branches. Using a randomized control trial, we investigate determinants of participation in a deposit collection service and evaluate the impact of offering the service for micro-savers of a rural bank in the Philippines. Of 137 individuals offered the service in the treatment group, 38 agreed to sign-up, and 20 regularly used the service. Take-up is predicted by distance to the bank (a measure of transaction costs of depositing without the service) as well as being married (a suggestion that household bargaining issues are important). Those offered the service saved 188 pesos more (which equates to about a 25% increase in savings stock) and were slightly less likely to borrow from the bank.Savings Behavior, Microfinance, Field Experiment, Savings Mobilization, Deposit Collector

Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines*

Female “empowerment” has increasingly become a policy goal, both as an end to itself and as a means to achieving other development goals. Microfinance in particular has often been argued, but not without controversy, to be a tool for empowering women. Here, using a randomized controlled trial, we examine whether access to an individually-held commitment savings product leads to an increase in female decision-making power within the household. We find positive impacts, particularly for women who have below median decision-making power in the baseline, and we find this leads to a shift towards female-oriented durables goods purchased in the household.savings, microfinance, female empowerment, household decision making,commitment

Tying Odysseus to the Mast: Evidence from a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines

We designed a commitment savings product for a Philippine bank and implemented it using a randomized control methodology. The savings product was intended for individuals who want to commit now to restrict access to their savings, and who were sophisticated enough to engage in such a mechanism. We conducted a baseline survey on 1777 existing or former clients of a bank. One month later, we offered the commitment product to a randomly chosen subset of 710 clients; 202 (28.4 percent) accepted the offer and opened the account. In the baseline survey, we asked hypothetical time discounting questions. Women who exhibited a lower discount rate for future relative to current tradeoffs, and hence potentially have a preference for commitment, were indeed significantly more likely to open the commitment savings account. After twelve months, average savings balances increased by 81 percentage points for those clients assigned to the treatment group relative to those assigned to the control group. We conclude that the savings response represents a lasting change in savings, and not merely a short-term response to a new product.Savings, commitment, hyperbolic preferences, microfinance, development economics, program evaluation, field experiment, self-control

Phosphorous Uptake by Oat Seedlings from Phosphorus Fertilizer Applied to a Subsoil as Affected by Soil Moisture

This study is an outgrowth of preliminary investigation by Hovland and Wesley to determine environmental conditions required by plants to establish vegetative cover on highway back slopes. From the nutritional phase of this study it was determined that nitrogen and phosphorus were the only deficient elements in the four exposed subsoils that were investigated. Deficient nutrients are supplied to exposed subsoils by the application of commercial fertilizer. The fertilizer is usually applied on the soil surface and seldom worked more than a few inches down onto the soil. In th Northern Great Plains, this zone of fertilizer placement dries out rapidly and may remain dry for extended periods of time during the growing season. Phosphorus is relatively immobile in the soil and remains in the vicinity of application for an entire season. Under these conditions, plants growing in infertile subsoils may not be able to absorb enough fertilizer phosphorus to sustain growth even though moisture condition below the fertilized layer is sufficient. Therefore, it was essential to determine the effect of moisture stress on fertilizer phosphorus uptake and its relation to stand failures. It was the purpose of this investigation to study the effect of increasing soil moisture tensions on the uptake of fertilizer phosphorus by plants grown on subsoil materials

Geology of the northeast portion of Des Arc Quadrangle, Iron and Madison Counties, Missouri

A geological investigation of the northeast portion of Des Arc Quadrangle in southeast Missouri was completed during the summer of 1958. Exposed Precambrian rocks include, from oldest to youngest, undifferentiated purple rhyolites with an interlayered tile-red rhyolite, andesine basalts with interlayered tuff, and an andesite. A diabase dike intrudes the lower purple rhyolites. The purple rhyolites account for about ninety-seven percent of the Precambrian exposures. Exposed Paleozoic rocks belong to the Bonneterre formation and include three members: (1) Lower Brown dolomite; (2) Light Gray dolomite with Tom Sauk limestone and arkosic sandstone and conglomerate facies; and (3) Upper Brown dolomite. These members correlate with zones 2, 3, and 4, respectively, of McQueen and Stewart for the Bonneterre formation of the Fredericktown area. Residuum derived from the Davis, Derby-Doerun, Potosi, Eminence, Gasconade, and Roubidoux formations covers much of the area. The Precambrian rocks show gentle dips, possibly of primary origin. Locally the tile-red rhyolite is inclined forty degrees. Primary structures include flow layering and poorly developed bedding in the rhyolites, plus contraction joints in all the Precambrian rock units. At least one fault occurs in the purple rhyolites. Initial dips off Precambrian knobs are the main structures in the Paleozoic rocks. Joints related to differential compaction occur around these knobs. Aeromagnetic data appear to correlate well with the calculated susceptibilities for the various exposed igneous rock types of the area, using Slichter\u27s method of calculation. Possible economic use might be made of the Tom Sauk limestone exposed in Marble Creek valley for agricultural lime, in manufacture of portland cement, or for terrazzo. Small quartz veins in the Precambrian rhyolites show no apparent metallic values. Aeromagnetic positive anomalies in the area are not considered indicative of buried iron-ore bodies. A tuff exposed near the Blue School, however, shows a relatively high hematite content and might constitute low-grade iron ore of not more than 5,000,000 tons reserves. Lead ores in the Bonneterre formation are unlikely in the area since the favorable stratigraphic horizon of the nearby Fredericktown area (zone 1 of McQueen and Stewart) is missing --Abstract, pages v-vi