Saving Behaviour in Cebu City: Contribution to the Livelihoods of Urban Poor Households

Abstract

Despite the widespread believe that poor people are too poor to save money, the empirical findings on the fact that urban poor households are indeed capable to save their money has been the basic assumption in this research. Household saving is a crucial determinant of welfare, due to the lack of well-functioning credit and insurance markets in developing countries. Saving money can smooth unexpected variations in income and prepare households for emergencies. The capacity to save becomes one of the main factors of enhancing future income earning possibilities. Several themes have been discussed which are dealing with the micro saving and the livelihood framework in Cebu City, the Philippines. In the thematic-theoretical framework it became clear that there is no straightforward saving behaviour and neither is the livelihood approach the same for every poor household. It is a complex process, which involves several different concepts that all lead in differences paths to the actual saving behaviour and the livelihood situation. The core focus of this research was on these two key concepts, because the contribution of the saving behaviour and the related livelihood strategy are of crucial importance in the livelihood results and subsequently in the general livelihood situation of the research population. It can be said that the contribution of the saving behaviour and the related saving strategies to the livelihood situation has been rather beneficial for the urban poor households in the research population.