Abstract
We conduct a randomized controlled trial among women in rural Bangladesh to
compare the efficacy of teaching a standard financial curriculum with maintaining
a financial diary. We find that keeping a financial diary to track spending is largely
as effective as financial education in improving financial test scores and downstream
financial behavior. Using incentivized experiments, we also show that participants
who maintained a financial diary exhibited significantly higher household bargaining
power. The findings suggest that maintaining a financial diary can be a cost-effective
alternative to financial education in improving the financial wellbeing of women in
developing countries.

Keywords: financial literacy, financial diary, randomized controlled trials, household finance
JEL Classification: D14, G51, G53, C93