We explore the factors associated with the savings choice among bank accounts, informal savings groups, and cash savings at home using primary data collected from low-income production workers in cut-flower farms in Ethiopia. A unique contextual feature of our sample is that workers have full access to banks as well as ROSCAs, which allow us to focus on the demand side of saving methods. We find that self-insured workers with greater assets tend to save more in banks. We further find that risk aversion is positively associated with ROSCAs savings but not bank savings, suggesting the workers value the insurance aspect of ROSCAs. We also find that those with greater social connectedness tend to save more with ROSCAs. Overall, we find that informal savings groups work as insurance, complementing formal financial institutions.

中文翻译：

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ROSCAS 作为保险：比较埃塞俄比亚切花行业非技术工人的正式和非正式储蓄方法

我们使用从埃塞俄比亚切花农场的低收入生产工人收集的原始数据，探讨与银行账户、非正式储蓄团体和家庭现金储蓄之间的储蓄选择相关的因素。我们样本的一个独特的上下文特征是工人可以完全访问银行和 ROSCA，这使我们能够专注于储蓄方法的需求方面。我们发现拥有更多资产的自我保险工人往往会在银行储蓄更多。我们进一步发现，风险规避与 ROSCA 储蓄呈正相关，但与银行储蓄无关，表明工人重视 ROSCA 的保险方面。我们还发现，社会联系更紧密的人倾向于通过 ROSCA 储蓄更多。总的来说，我们发现非正式储蓄团体起到了保险作用，对正式金融机构起到了补充作用。