Non-Complementarity of Financial Education and Access
Policy-makers often assume that pairing financial education with access to financial products produces synergistic benefits for migrant households. However, whether these interventions enhance each other's take-up or operate independently remains empirically unproven.
Picture this
Imagine giving someone a shiny new toolset while also offering them a user manual. If having the manual does not make them any more likely to use the toolset, and having the toolset does not make them any more likely to read the manual, the two offers work like completely separate items on a shelf rather than gears that mesh together.
What the evidence says
Take-up of financial education was 39–41 percentage points across education groups regardless of product offers (p-value for difference = 0.431), and financial product take-up showed no statistically significant difference between access-only and combined groups (p-value = 0.485 for total product take-up test T1+T2=T3).
- Who
- N = 1,800 transnational households (Filipino overseas workers' family members) in and around Cabanatuan City, Philippines.
- How
- Four-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) using an encouragement design comparing Control, Financial Education, Financial Access, and Combined Treatment.
What to do
Evaluate and budget financial education and financial access programs independently based on standalone costs and benefits rather than expecting combined delivery to boost participant adoption.
From the source
"We find no evidence of complementarities between the financial education and financial access treatments."
Financial Education and Financial Access for Transnational Households: Field Experimental Evidence from the Philippines