We examine the role of trust in financial institutions as a necessary condition for the wider use of formal financial services by the poor. We randomly assigned beneficiaries of a conditional cash transfer program in 130 villages in Peru to attend a 3.5 hour training session designed to build...

We randomly assigned beneficiaries of a conditional cash transfer program in Peru to attend a 3 hour training session designed to build their trust in financial institutions. We find that the intervention: (a) significantly increased trust in banks, but had no effect on financial literacy; (b)...

We study food Engel curves among the poor population targeted by a conditional cash transfer programme in Colombia. After controlling for the endogeneity of total expenditure and for the (unobserved) variability of prices across villages, the best fit is provided by a log-linear specification....