Financial (Dis-)Information: Evidence from an Audit Study in Mexico

Abstract

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

A systematic review of the use of adolescent mystery clients in assessing the adolescent friendliness of health services in high, middle, and low-income countries

“…The results and experiences of the MC methodology with adults and in the business sector [5–8] are similar to the results of our review regarding adolescents in the health sector, and thus add support to the value of this method. For example, in an evaluation study by Friedman et al, MCs were trained to assess provider practices and evaluate the use of mobile phone messages to pharmacists to improve the treatment of childhood diarrhoea in Ghana [49].…”

“…The study found disparities between actual practices of the providers and their self-reported practices. Outside the field of health, the MC method has evaluated the quality and quantity of information provided by the staff of financial institutions in Ghana, Mexico, and Peru [8]. The study found that clients were not offered enough information to compare credit and savings products [8], similar to the result in which we found that adolescents were not offered enough information to compare contraception methods [17].…”

“…Outside the field of health, the MC method has evaluated the quality and quantity of information provided by the staff of financial institutions in Ghana, Mexico, and Peru [8]. The study found that clients were not offered enough information to compare credit and savings products [8], similar to the result in which we found that adolescents were not offered enough information to compare contraception methods [17]. The efficacy of the MC method in ASRH service provision is supported by the success of these studies and the similarities in results and experiences.…”

“…While this methodology has been used among adults and adolescents alike [5–8], in this review we consider the use of adolescent MCs to assess the friendliness of adolescent health services across high-, middle-, and low-income countries. ASRH services vary by type of care provided, cadres of health care providers or healthcare facilities (i.e.…”

Behavioral Finance: Household Investment and Borrowing Decisions

“…In a series of recent studies, Ru and Schoar (2016) found that card issuers target less-educated customers by using rewards programs to screen for behavioral biases, while Ponce et al (2017) concluded that Brazilian banks take advantage of households' failure to borrow from low-interest credit cards. In addition, field evidence suggests employees of financial institutions provide little information about avoidable fees, especially to less knowledgeable individuals (Giné et al, 2014).…”