Savings accounts for young people in developing countries: Trends in practice

Deshpande, Rani; Zimmerman, Jamie M.

doi:10.3362/1755-1986.2010.026

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…This also implies that savings amount serves as an asset for these youth which they can transform into start-up capital for business after their university education. This is in line with the finding of Deshpande and Zimmerman (2010) who said that promoting youth savings may have the potential to be a high-leverage intervention, with positive effects on youth development. Relatively, we can also add that students who enrol into private universities are assumed to be coming from families with better income background than those who go to public universities.…”

Section: Descriptive Statisticssupporting

confidence: 88%

Savings, entrepreneurial trait and self-employment: evidence from selected Ghanaian Universities

2015

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Youth unemployment is a major setback to sustainable growth. In recent times, Ghana has experienced a downward trend in youth employment in spite of several attempts made by the government to control the unemployment situation. This paper explores savings behaviour, entrepreneurial trait and the decision to be self-employed among students from selected public and private universities in Ghana. Employing the bivariate analysis and probit model on a sample of 1046 students shows that savings behaviour among the youth varies according to their programmes of study, type of institution (public and private) and family background of the students. Savings and entrepreneurial trait increase the probability of self-employment decision among university students. Policies that can address graduate unemployment should focus on helping students to save while in school. Also, incorporating entrepreneurial training into the academic programmes of these institutions has the tendency of improving the entrepreneurial traits of students and thereby, decide to be self-employed. Policy intervention needs to be designed strategically to target students into self-employment as a way of curbing youth unemployment in Ghana in order to contribute to national development.

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Section: Descriptive Statisticssupporting

confidence: 88%

Savings, entrepreneurial trait and self-employment: evidence from selected Ghanaian Universities

2015

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“…Under the partnership, education loans have been customized to students' school term and are offered at a reduced monthly interest rate of 2 percent (Chandani & Twamuhabwa, 2009 Leone, and Niger to one of the largest youth savings and loan associations, modeled after village savings and loan associations, while in Burundi, CARE International initiated informal savings and credit groups for adolescents and young adults. The Ishaka Project aims to connect girls aged 1-22 to village savings and loan associations and related support services, such as financial and business management and life skills training (Deshpande & Zimmerman, 2010).…”

Section: Other Initiativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing the “demographic dividend” in young developing countries: The role of contractual savings and insurance for financing education

Ssewamala

2014

Int J Soc Welfare

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Many developing regions are facing a youth bulge, meaning that young people comprise the highest proportion of the population. These regions are at risk of losing what could be a tremendous opportunity for economic growth and development if they do not capitalize on this young and economically productive population - also referred to as the “demographic dividend,” defined as the increase in economic growth that tends to follow increases in the ratio of the working-age population - essentially the labor force - to dependents. Nations undergoing this population transition have the opportunity to capitalize on the demographic dividend if the right social, economic, and human capital policies are in place. In particular, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and North Africa are at risk of losing the demographic dividend. These regions face high youth unemployment, low primary school completion, and low secondary school enrollment. This results in an undereducated and unskilled segment of the population. The prohibitive costs of education prevent young people from finishing school, thereby entering the labor market unprepared. This article presents a case for youth-focused financial inclusion programs as one of the antidotes to the masses of poor, undereducated, and low-skilled young people swelling the labor markets of poor developing countries.

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“…Lower-income youth in the United States also lack financial knowledge (Lusardi et al 2010;Mandell 2008b) and lack access to mainstream financial institutions (Johnson and Sherraden 2007). Access to and use of formal financial services is low among youth in lower-income countries (Deshpande and Zimmerman 2010;Hirschland 2009;Nagarajan 2005), including many countries in SSA (UNCDF 2011) despite evidence that youth save informally . For example, among a sample of youth ages 15-24 (N = 652) in Ghana, only 18% used a formal financial institution product or service within the prior 12 months (InterMedia 2010).…”

Section: Conceptualizing Youth Financial Capabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing a Measurement Model of Financial Capability Among Youth in Ghana

Despard¹,

Chowa²

2014

Journal of Consumer Affairs

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Youth may benefit from having enhanced financial knowledge and skills and access to financial services to help them navigate transitions to adulthood, though reliable and valid measures of youth financial capability to help assess financial education and inclusion intervention outcomes are lacking. Using survey responses from 5,451 youth ages 12-18 in Ghana, we used exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to assess 18 survey items concerning youth financial behavior and understanding and attitudes concerning financial services. A 12-item, group invariant scale (α = .72) with three latent factors was retained in a well-fitting model that may help practitioners assess financial education and inclusion outcomes. We found that six items were poor indicators of youth financial capability, possibly because these items measure other constructs like numeracy, or because these items were not sufficiently assessed for developmental and cultural validity using qualitative methods like cognitive interviewing.

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Savings accounts for young people in developing countries: Trends in practice

Cited by 12 publications

References 12 publications

Savings, entrepreneurial trait and self-employment: evidence from selected Ghanaian Universities

Savings, entrepreneurial trait and self-employment: evidence from selected Ghanaian Universities

Optimizing the “demographic dividend” in young developing countries: The role of contractual savings and insurance for financing education

Testing a Measurement Model of Financial Capability Among Youth in Ghana

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