Banking on Trust: How Debit Cards Enable the Poor to Save More

Banking on Trust: How Debit Cards Enable the Poor to Save More
Date
Fri May 11th 2018, 12:30 - 1:20pm
Event Sponsor
Center for Latin American Studies, Department of Economics
Location
Bolivar House, 582 Alvarado Row, Stanford, CA
Speaker:

Enrique Seira, Tinker Visiting Professor

We study a natural experiment in which debit cards are rolled out to beneficiaries a cash transfer program, Oportunidades. We find that the card enables beneficiaries to build trust, increase savings,  reduce temptation good spending. We conclude that debit cards and electronic money, together with conditional cash transfer programs --that reach tens of millions of households-- are a promising way to further financial inclusion.

Enrique Seira is a Tinker Visiting Professor and a Hoover National Fellow at Stanford University. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University and is currently a Professor of Economics at ITAM, Mexico, and a JPAL affiliate researcher. Professor Seira's interests lie in development economics, credit markets, and more recently on political participation. His research has appeared at the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, among others.  

Professor Enrique Seira is teaching ECON129: Credit Markets and Development: Some Evidence from Latin America and the World in spring 2018.

Lunch will be provided.

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