Do private consultants promote savings and investments in rural Mozambique?
Advice from managementprofessionals can help small‐ and medium‐sized firms reach complex financial goals in low‐ and middle‐income countries. We apply lessons learned in the firm literature to determine the degree in which farmer associations face constraints to management and planning capacity that...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | Inglés |
| Published: |
International Association of Agricultural Economists
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/141297 |
| _version_ | 1855530750701469696 |
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| author | Christian, Parul Glover, Steven Kondylis, Florence Mueller, Valerie Ruzzante, Matteo Zwager, Astrid |
| author_browse | Christian, Parul Glover, Steven Kondylis, Florence Mueller, Valerie Ruzzante, Matteo Zwager, Astrid |
| author_facet | Christian, Parul Glover, Steven Kondylis, Florence Mueller, Valerie Ruzzante, Matteo Zwager, Astrid |
| author_sort | Christian, Parul |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Advice from managementprofessionals can help small‐ and medium‐sized firms reach complex financial goals in low‐ and middle‐income countries. We apply lessons learned in the firm literature to determine the degree in which farmer associations face constraints to management and planning capacity that can be alleviated by the provision of advice from external consultants. In particular, we conducted a randomized control trial in 42 water user associations (WUAs) in Mozambique to examine whether more intensive attention from financial consultants through repeated follow‐up visits prompts households to save and invest in agricultural equipment. All WUAs received a financial literacy training and were eligible to receive a matching grant. Twenty‐one WUAs were randomized into the treatment group that additionally were visited by private consultants quarterly, who tailored their advice to meet individuals’ own savings and investment objectives. We find the follow‐up visits increase ‘hidden savings’ in the form of new capital investments on farmers’ own account. Thus, the visits may have changed savings’ habits by leading farmers to invest in technologies that were not directly subsidized. Our ability to detect an additional effect on the type of investments farmers targeted through the matching grant and, hence, the savings for the respective investments is limited given the power of our study design. Although the proportion of households saving increased, the intervention was likely less cost‐effective than other modalities aimed to enhance the proclivity to save. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace141297 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | International Association of Agricultural Economists |
| publisherStr | International Association of Agricultural Economists |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1412972025-10-26T13:01:45Z Do private consultants promote savings and investments in rural Mozambique? Christian, Parul Glover, Steven Kondylis, Florence Mueller, Valerie Ruzzante, Matteo Zwager, Astrid grants investment financial literacy agriculture savings rural areas consultancies Advice from managementprofessionals can help small‐ and medium‐sized firms reach complex financial goals in low‐ and middle‐income countries. We apply lessons learned in the firm literature to determine the degree in which farmer associations face constraints to management and planning capacity that can be alleviated by the provision of advice from external consultants. In particular, we conducted a randomized control trial in 42 water user associations (WUAs) in Mozambique to examine whether more intensive attention from financial consultants through repeated follow‐up visits prompts households to save and invest in agricultural equipment. All WUAs received a financial literacy training and were eligible to receive a matching grant. Twenty‐one WUAs were randomized into the treatment group that additionally were visited by private consultants quarterly, who tailored their advice to meet individuals’ own savings and investment objectives. We find the follow‐up visits increase ‘hidden savings’ in the form of new capital investments on farmers’ own account. Thus, the visits may have changed savings’ habits by leading farmers to invest in technologies that were not directly subsidized. Our ability to detect an additional effect on the type of investments farmers targeted through the matching grant and, hence, the savings for the respective investments is limited given the power of our study design. Although the proportion of households saving increased, the intervention was likely less cost‐effective than other modalities aimed to enhance the proclivity to save. 2022-01 2024-04-12T13:37:38Z 2024-04-12T13:37:38Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/141297 en https://doi.org/10.1111/ajae.12209 Limited Access International Association of Agricultural Economists Christian, Paul; Glover, Steven; Kondylis, Florence; Mueller, Valerie; Ruzzante, Matteo; and Zwager, Astrid. 2022. Do private consultants promote savings and investments in rural Mozambique? Agricultural Economics 53(1): 22-36. https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12672 |
| spellingShingle | grants investment financial literacy agriculture savings rural areas consultancies Christian, Parul Glover, Steven Kondylis, Florence Mueller, Valerie Ruzzante, Matteo Zwager, Astrid Do private consultants promote savings and investments in rural Mozambique? |
| title | Do private consultants promote savings and investments in rural Mozambique? |
| title_full | Do private consultants promote savings and investments in rural Mozambique? |
| title_fullStr | Do private consultants promote savings and investments in rural Mozambique? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Do private consultants promote savings and investments in rural Mozambique? |
| title_short | Do private consultants promote savings and investments in rural Mozambique? |
| title_sort | do private consultants promote savings and investments in rural mozambique |
| topic | grants investment financial literacy agriculture savings rural areas consultancies |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/141297 |
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