Examining individualized feedback on financial behavior of small entrepreneurs in Uganda

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Lukas Menkhoff
• Subject Area: Economic Policy, Applied Economics
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 315456752

Small entrepreneurs in developing countries have considerable shortcomings in their financial behavior which hinder their advancement. Thus interventions have been conducted in order to improve financial education and, in the end, financial behavior. The average effect of such interventions is small. However, there are underresearched starting points for improving effectiveness, such as the reliance on a teachable moment or the use of reminders. Following these ideas, we examine two kinds of financial education in a RCT-design. In the first survey wave of the project among small entrepreneurs in Uganda we provide them an individualized feedback on their past financial behavior in order to generate their awareness of shortcomings (teachable moment) and offering concrete solutions at the same time. We examine the effectiveness of these interventions in later survey waves. Building on this we also test the effect of offering repeated feedback.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Dr. Jann Lay