The Real Effects of Elecronic Wage Payments: A Field Experiment with Salaried Factory Workers in Bangladesh

Investigators: CDEP Affiliate Emily Breza and Martin Kanz and Leora Klapper, both of the World Bank.

How can employers assist their workers in building basic financial capability? As in much of the developing world, Bangladeshi factory workers currently reside largely outside of the formal financial system, with very low rates of bank account ownership.  However, mobile money platforms have been much more successful at reaching poor workers.  The project team investigates whether automatically depositing wages into a formal bank account or into a mobile money account can improve an agent’s ability to save, thus facilitating either lumpy investment or improved self-insurance.  The team also plans to examine the effects of electronic wage payments on remittances, loan demand, and worker productivity.

Results can be found as an International Growth Centre report: "The Real Effects of Electronic Wage Payments"

This project is being conducted in partnership with Innovations for Poverty Action and is partially funded by the Gates Foundation.