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on Microfinance |
| By: | Allison V. Thompkins |
| Abstract: | People with disabilities are disproportionately represented among the poorest of the poor in developing countries. An increasingly common method of combating poverty in developing countries, microlending, has been largely unavailable to those with disabilities. This paper reports on one of the first programs in India to provide the disabled access to microlending. I evaluate the impact of this program by comparing people with disabilities to their non-disabled siblings in treatment and control villages. The estimates suggest that the program led to increased borrowing and educational attainment while having no impact on labor market participation among the disabled. |
| Keywords: | microlending, employment, education, disability, India, development economics |
| JEL: | I J |
| Date: | 2015–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:c3c434cc40b74cfea18b3441024b12ff&r=mfd |
| By: | Delavallade, Clara; Dizon, Felipe; Hill, Ruth Vargas; Petraud, Jean Paul |
| Abstract: | Although there is fast-growing policy interest in offering financial products to help rural households manage risk, the literature is still scant as to which products are the most effective. This paper uses a randomized field experiment in Senegal and Burkina Faso to compare male and female farmers who are offered index-based agricultural insurance with those who are offered a variety of savings instruments. The paper finds that female farm managers were less likely to purchase agricultural insurance and more likely to invest in savings for emergencies, even controlling for access to informal insurance and differences in crop choice. It is hypothesized that this finding results from the fact that, although men and women are equally exposed to yield risk, women face additional sources of lifecycle risk -- particularly health risks associated with fertility and childcare -- that men do not. In essence, the basis risk associated with agricultural insurance products is higher for women. Purchasing insurance increased input spending and use more than savings. Those who purchased more insurance realized higher average yields and were better able to manage food insecurity and shocks. This finding suggests that gender differences in demand for financial products can have an impact on productivity, resilience, and welfare. |
| Keywords: | Emerging Markets,Hazard Risk Management,Insurance&Risk Mitigation,Rural Poverty Reduction,Financial Intermediation |
| Date: | 2015–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7176&r=mfd |
| By: | Laurin Janes |
| Abstract: | Using data from a randomized control trail in Sri Lanka, this paper explores whether cash and in-kind grants helped microenterprises approach the productivity level of SMEs. The paper first estimates production functions and subsequently treatment effects on TFP levels. Most significantly, more able and more risk-averse owners benefit from the larger in-kind grant. Also, the larger in-kind grants allowed for increases in productivity to the least productive firms. The paper then uses data from a representative sample of formal firms to put the TFP levels and treatment effects in the microenterprises into perspective. The results suggest that the least productive firms were able to catch up with the average microenterprise and formal SMEs, while a gap remains with large firms. This finding encourages a positive view of the potential for productivity growth in microenterprises. |
| Keywords: | Economic development, microenterprises, formal informal, total factor productivity, embodied technology |
| JEL: | L25 O12 O14 O17 O33 |
| Date: | 2013–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:wps/2013-18&r=mfd |