Causality between Household Savings and Economic Empowerment in North-Central States of Nigeria
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Date
2011
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Faculty of Management Sciences, Kogi State University
Abstract
At the micro level, attention has been mostly focused on the savings behaviour of households. However, the impact of household savings on economic empowerment at the household level has not been adequately addressed. This study has been designed therefore to examine the relationship between the household financial savings and level of economic empowerment in North Central States of Nigeria. A two-stage sampling technique was used to select Local Government Areas as well as the respondents at the village level. The first stage sampling involved one urban and one rural local government area from each of the Senatorial districts; At the second stage, a set of questionnaire was administered on household' heads that were selected from the Local Govemment Areas proportional to the total number of households in the area. The questionnaire was designed based on the World Bank's Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) and the Federal Bureau. of Statistics' National Integrated Survey on Heuseholds (NISH) standard. The measurement of economic empowerment at micro level is an adaptation of UNDP's Human Development Index measurement at macro level using the three dimensions; Life Expectancy, Educational attainment and Income Level. The Ordinary Least Squares method was used to analyze the data through Multiple Regression Technique. The major findings of the study showed that: the household size in the geo-political zone ranged between 3 and 29 members with a savings range of between N500 and N 20iOOO per month; savings, household size, and membership of Savings and Credit Associations (SCAs) are positively related to economic empowerment and significant .at 5 level. It was also found that . savings are more positively related to economic empowerment in the rural than urban areas at 1 level.
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Keywords
Micro level, Behaviour, Empowerment, North Central State of Nigeria