Effects of Youth Savings Accounts on School Attendance and Academic Performance: Evidence from a Youth Savings Experiment

How would adolescents, especially those in developing countries, respond if offered opportunities to save for their own education? Would the opportunities affect educational outcomes? This study presents findings from the Ghana YouthSave Experiment, a randomized controlled trial of two savings interventions, both of which offered a formal savings account. The in-school banking intervention offered on-site financial education as well as opportunities to conduct transactions; the marketing outreach intervention did not include financial education, and transactions could only be made by visiting a local bank. Results from difference-in-difference analyses with bootstrapped standard errors indicate that the effect of the in-school banking intervention is significant. The conclusions are suggestive for research on financial interventions with youth and for efforts to integrate financial capability programs with youth development efforts.

Project: YouthSave