Patterns of Savings in Rural Niger

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Date

1987-12

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Ohio State University. Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics

Research Projects

Organizational Units

Journal Issue

Abstract

This paper explores three issues of importance in the study of savings behavior in developing countries, based on data obtained at the "Caisse Nationale d'Epargne" (CNE) of Niger. First, it shows that, relative to the availability of CNE branches, rural people are more active than urban savers in establishing accounts at the institution. Furthermore, our results suggest that the proportion of income saved in financial form by rural depositors is likely to be higher than that of the urban clientele. Second, no conclusive evidence was found regarding the validity of the lifecycle hypothesis of savings behavior. Further research appears necessary to control for other factors that may be affecting the results presented here, especially those associated with access to other means of formal and informal savings. Finally, the relative importance of agricultural activities and other occupations closely associated with agriculture in the CNE clientele was estimated to be about 15 percent, a share substantially larger than that estimated in previous studies in the same institution.

Description

Keywords

Citation