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on Microfinance |
| By: | Dean Karlan (Economic Growth Center, Yale University); Pascaline Dupas (Stanford University); Jonathan Robinson (University of California Santa Cruz); Jonathan Robinson (University of California Santa Cruz); Diego Ubfal (Bocconi University) |
| Abstract: | We experimentally test the impact of expanding access to basic bank accounts in Uganda, Malawi, and Chile. Over two years, 17%, 10%, and 3% of treatment individuals made five or more deposits, respectively. Average monthly deposits for them were at the 79th, 91st, and 96th percentiles of baseline savings. Survey data show no clearly discernible intention-to-treat effects on savings or any downstream outcomes. This suggests that policies merely focused on expanding access to basic accounts are unlikely to improve welfare noticeably since impacts, even if present, are likely small and diverse. |
| Keywords: | financial access, savings, micro-finance, field experiment, multicountry, Uganda, Malawi, Chile |
| JEL: | C93 D14 G21 O12 O16 |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egc:wpaper:1055&r=mfd |
| By: | Emla Fitzsimons; Bansi Malde; Marcos Vera-Hernández |
| Abstract: | Community-based interventions, particularly group-based ones, are considered to be a cost-effective way of delivering interventions in low-income settings. However, design features of these programs could also influence dimensions of household and community behaviour beyond those targeted by the intervention. This paper studies spillover effects of a participatory community health intervention in rural Malawi, implemented through a cluster randomised control trial, on an outcome not directly targeted by the intervention: household consumption smoothing after crop losses. We find that while crop losses reduce consumption growth in the absence of the intervention, households in treated areas are able to compensate for this loss and perfectly insure their consumption. Asset decumulation also falls in treated areas. We provide suggestive evidence that these effects are driven by increased social interactions, which could have alleviated contracting frictions; and rule out that they are driven by improved health or reductions in the incidence of crop losses. |
| Keywords: | participatory community interventions; spillovers; consumption smoothing; Sub-Saharan Africa |
| JEL: | E21 G22 O12 O13 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:1611&r=mfd |
| By: | Zuleta J., Luis Alberto |
| Abstract: | En Colombia la inclusión financiera de las pymes parece estar por encima de la media internacional que estima el Banco Mundial en lo que se refiere, tanto a las empresas que no solicitan crédito, como a las que lo solicitan. Aunque tienen una menor exclusión involuntaria, el porcentaje de las que afirman no necesitar crédito es casi el mismo de la media internacional, lo cual puede estar íntimamente ligado con el tema de educación financiera. Los instrumentos públicos utilizados por las pymes y los bancos privados han permitido reducir asimetrías de información, de manera que los servicios a las pymes que acuden a los productos financieros se vuelvan recurrentes. |
| Keywords: | PEQUEÑAS EMPRESAS, EMPRESAS MEDIANAS, FINANCIAMIENTO DE EMPRESAS, IGUALDAD, BANCOS DE DESARROLLO, POLITICA CREDITICIA, SMALL ENTERPRISES, MEDIUM ENTERPRISES, BUSINESS FINANCING, EQUALITY, DEVELOPMENT BANKS, CREDIT POLICY |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col035:40771&r=mfd |