By Julia Stevens & Li Zou, Center for Social Development 

YouthSave hosts its first Research Advisory Council (RAC) Meeting!  Earlier this month, the RAC – comprised of experts from the fields of social sciences, international development, economics, microfinance, and social policy – convened at the Center for Social Development at Washington University to advise on YouthSave’s learning agenda.  Led by CSD, the goals of the agenda are to document the uptake, savings process, savings outcomes, and impacts of Youth Savings Accounts (YSAs) on clients and financial institutions (FIs).

YouthSave is fortunate to benefit from the input of a distinguished group of experts in many aspects of research and saving.  

• Kojo Appiah-Kubi, Scholar and Member of Parliament, Ghana
• Beatriz Armendáriz, Lecturer in Economics, University College London and Harvard
• Ernest Aryeetey, Vice-Chancellor, University of Ghana
• Chris Barrett, Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University
• Daphna Oyserman, Edwin J. Thomas Collegiate Professor, University of Michigan
• Stuart Rutherford, Founder, SafeSave and Shohoz Shonchoy
• Carolina Trivelli, Senior Researcher, Instituto de Estudios Peruanos
• Graham Wright, Program Director, MicroSave

At the RAC meeting, consortium members and RAC members reviewed the multi-method research design, which addresses three key questions:

• Which youth client, household, and saving product characteristics are associated with positive savings outcomes?
• How do youth experiences with saving inform social and economic development strategies in each country?
• What are the long-term impacts of YSAs on developmental outcomes for youth and household finances, and on overall well-being?

The meeting focused on the discussion of three core research methods—Savings Demand Assessment, Integrative Case Studies, and Impact Study—and two potential research opportunities—Randomized Controlled Trials and Financial Diaries. (A description of the core research methods can be found here.) Randomized Controlled Trials offer an exciting opportunity to build additional experiments that “piggyback” on the main study.  As an example, the YouthSave research partner in Colombia, Universidad de los Andes, has proposed a test of specific account features in youth savings accounts. Financial Diaries is a method for capturing the complexities of saving and financial management in low-income households. RAC members expressed interest in continuing to discuss these possibilities.

We would like to thank the RAC members for their time, enthusiasm, and thoughtful recommendations on our learning agenda, particularly on the design of research instruments and guidance on how best to implement the research methods.