Essays in development economics

: On Agents’ prosocial and financial behaviours

Abstract

This thesis stands on the broad banner of development economics. It focuses on agents’ economic behaviours both from the lens of their labour supply and their demand for financial services. The thesis gathers three chapters in the
format of independent papers in which two main topics are discussed: (1) the bounded rationality observed in some aspects of labour supply with a focus on volunteering and, (2) financial inclusion policies for poor individuals in developing countries. In the first chapter, I have studied the salient motive (intrinsic vs extrinsic) for volunteering in the main organizations attracting this seemingly free labor force. In chapter 2, I evaluate in the framework of a randomized control trial (RCT), the impacts of expanding access to formal savings and liquidity devices to poor individuals’ on their total savings and well-being. Chapter 3 is a theoretical paper discussing a behavioral model aiming to rationalize poor and time-inconsistent microentrepreneurs’ investment decisions, when access to credit is provided and in a context where the available outside option is risky but might provide higher revenue.

Date of Award	27 Nov 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Namur
Sponsors	University of Namur
Supervisor	Romain Houssa (Supervisor), Paul Reding (Co-Supervisor), Benoit Decerf (President), Jean-Marie Baland (Jury), Stefan Dercon (Jury) & Denis Acclassato Houensou (Jury)