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Beyond RCTs: How Rapid-Fire Testing Can Build Better Financial Products
Rapid-fire tests are nimble randomized controlled trials specifically aimed at improving product design. They are already common practice among technology-based companies as a way to iterate and rapidly improve their product and expand their user-base, but they can also be used to answer questions about the demand for financial products and improve other interventions that help the world’s poor. Innovations for Poverty Action explores what these trials can and cannot do.
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Innovations in Financial Capability: Four Lessons For Providers
Building successful financial capability requires moving beyond traditional modes of product delivery and financial education. Accion identified several best practices from organizations that habitually learn from their clients’ needs and behaviors, and tailor their products to meet those needs and build capability. Here are four lessons from their new report on the topic.
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The Avoidance Factor: Research in Indonesia reveals unique behavioral obstacles to microinsurance take-up
The nature of insurance is that it protects against unexpected, unpleasant events that people prefer not to think about. But human nature leads people to prioritize their expenses based on the needs that are top of mind. A recent survey in Indonesia revealed that this dynamic can be a factor in the low take-up of insurance. Nick Thornton discusses the research, and offers some solutions.
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Mind, Society and Behavior – and Financial Inclusion: How should behavioral research inform initiatives at the World Bank and beyond?
Paying attention to how people think, and to how history and context shape their thinking, can improve the design and implementation of development policies and interventions that target human behavior. What does this mean in practice? And how should it apply to financial inclusion efforts, and to the World Bank’s work in particular? Douglas Randall discusses.
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Financial Education in the Digital Age: It’s affordable, it’s scalable – but does it work?
Financial education is a key strategy for achieving full financial inclusion. But in-person group training by a human trainer have failed to consistently improve beneficiaries’ knowledge and behavior, and they are often too costly to scale. Nowadays, however, individualized financial education can reach millions at a low cost via digital platforms. IPA is examining the impact and potential of these programs.
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Three Keys to Unlocking Microinsurance’s Potential: The sector is growing – here’s how it can grow faster
Although microinsurance has grown in the shadow of flagship microfinance products like microcredit, it has slowly established itself as a dominant figure in inclusive finance. Yet it is still far from achieving its full potential, with challenges ranging from low coverage rates to lack of customer trust and limited cash-flows. Lisa Chassin of MicroSave outlines key practices that could boost the sector’s growth.
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Improving Everyday Financial Decisions: Brief, specific and targeted education could help the poor make better choices
In Uganda, nearly half of surveyed adults were unable to correctly answer a basic question about interest rates, according to a recent study. What is the best way to address this kind of financial capability gap? Research from IPA and others suggests some mechanisms through which financial education might be delivered in Uganda and around the world.
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150 Million Bank Accounts – Is That Enough?: Infrastructure is only one part of designing an inclusive financial system in India
Indian prime minister Modi recently announced an ambitious new plan for financial inclusion for all Indians. The plan focuses on the estimated half of the country’s population that does not use a bank, providing them with debit cards and insurance policies (among other things). But IPA points out that creating an inclusive financial system will require more than ATM cards.
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