Measuring Household Usage of Financial Services: Does it Matter How or Whom You Ask?

This paper reports results from a randomized experiment in Ghana that tests whether identity of respondent and inclusion of product-specific cues in questions affect reported rates of household usage of financial services. Survey of households and individuals hold most promise for measuring financial services usage and outreach. Findings include:

• Usage rates are higher when questions are asked about specific financial products for credit from formal institutions, informal sources of savings, and insurance;
• Rates of household usage are almost identical when the head reports on behalf of the household and when the rate is tabulated from a full enumeration of household use;
• Randomly selected informants provide a less complete summary of household use of financial services than the above two methods.

Study results indicate that identity of informant and question format affect accuracy of financial usage information and its comparability across regions and over time. The paper recommends that generic, institution-based questions used in financial modules of larger, often multi-purpose surveys be adapted to include product-based cues appropriate to country context.