I will now discuss three selected examples of the use of household surveys, namely (i) those carried out under the LSMS program; (ii) other general household surveys and (iii) specialized financial services surveys.<sup>13</sup>

# _LSMS surveys_

The World Bank’s LSMS was a pioneering effort to extend the use of best practice in national living standards surveys worldwide. The LSMS website reports on 51 surveys covering 30 countries at various dates since 1985. Of these, 39 surveys, covering 25 countries, included a module on “savings and borrowing” and a handful of others also include some savings and borrowing questions in other modules. (The Annex Table summarizes the main questions asked in this module in 27 of these surveys). The content of this module varies from survey to survey – indeed a degree of variation is inherent if the questionnaire is to reflect local conditions and as such resonate with the respondent – but recent surveys have contained useful though limited information mainly about credit. The sample sizes typically range between 1500 and 7500 which is sufficient for low sampling errors on nationwide totals, but small if subgroups are to be examined.

For instance, the 2001 survey for Bosnia interviewed 5400 households and included a credit module<sup>14</sup> ) containing 13 questions. These ask (i) how often the respondent borrowed from identified sources in the previous 12 months, together with flow and stock amounts; (ii) from whom, how much and why the latest loan was obtained (and if none why not); (iii) whether and by whom loan was refused. Other financial service questions are also embedded elsewhere in the questionnaire. For example, items 42 and 43 of the 48-item expenditure survey are spending on insurance and other financial services including bank charges.

A 1998 survey for Ghana interviewed about 6000 households included as the last section a “credit, assets and savings” module (Section 12). Here credit respondents were asked (i) in respect of each loan obtained or repaid in the past 12 months, the amount, the source, the purpose, what guarantees were required by the lender and what repayments have been made and (ii) whether and why any loan application was refused. Any savings accounts (including informal _susu_ accounts) were also measured together with flows in and out. Household spending on “financial services not elsewhere specified” was also requested.. Questions on credit were also asked in respect of household-controlled enterprises. Here were required the main sources of finance and of credit, whether a credit application was refused and gross borrowings and repayments in a twelve month period.

> 13 I will not attempt to benchmark these against the leading comparators in the advanced economies such as the US’s Survey of Consumer Finances, the UK’s Household Resources Survey or the Italian Survey of Household Income and Wealth.  The enormous economies of scale in statistics collection militates against such comparisons especially in respect of small economies.

> 14 Interestingly this module was placed no. 6 of 13.  Most interview designers in contrast prefer to leave the sensitive financial modules to the end of the interview to avoid offputting effects that might damage response quality for the other themes.

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