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on Microfinance |
| By: | Sam Njinyah (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK); Simplice A. Asongu (Yaoundé, Cameroon); Sally Jones (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) |
| Abstract: | Africa is becoming the fastest-growing continent despite significant challenges to accessing finance and the use of technology. This research aims to examine the direct effect of mobile money adoption on firm performance and its indirect effect by examining how it moderates the effect of access to finance on firm performance. Quantitative data were obtained from the World Bank Enterprise Survey for Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe. A series of hierarchical regression analyses were done to test the hypotheses. The main findings show a negative significant relationship between mobile money adoption and firm performance while access to finance had a positive relationship. The moderation effect though positive was not significant. Research examining the effect of mobile money adoption in Africa on firm performance is limited and existing studies have focused on the determinants of mobile money usage. |
| Keywords: | Mobile money, Access to Finance, Firm Performance, Resource-based view, Sub Saharan Africa |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:exs:wpaper:22/075&r= |
| By: | Galang, Ivory Myka R. |
| Abstract: | Credit programs have been long viewed as salient means to develop the Philippine agriculture sector, especially small-farm agriculture. From subsidized directed, credit programs in the country have become more market-oriented in recent years. However, there have been little to no studies examining how access to credit affects the agricultural performance of poor agricultural producers, including the beneficiaries of the agrarian reform program. Using primary data from the Department of Agrarian Reform’s Baseline Survey on Project Convergence on Value Chain Enhancement for Rural Growth and Empowerment, this study analyzes the borrowing incidence among Agrarian Reform Beneficiary Organization (ARBO) member households, particularly those engaged in farm production. The results show that (1) borrowing ARBO agricultural households are better off than the nonborrowing ones in terms of housing characteristics and agricultural performance; (2) farmer associations and cooperatives are among the top sources of agricultural credit in the countryside aside from microfinance institutions; (3) and Certificate of Land Ownership Award-holding ARBO agricultural households have higher borrowing incidence than the average ARBO agricultural households. Thus, to further improve credit retailers’ lending performance and reach in the countryside, the study recommends giving leadership and management capacity training. |
| Keywords: | credit; poor; agrarian reform beneficiaries; CLOA; collective CLOA; individual CLOA; loan; formal credit; informal credit; agricultural households; DAR |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:rpseri:rps_2021-07&r= |
| By: | Alejandro Sanchez-Becerra |
| Abstract: | I establish primitive conditions for unconfoundedness in a coherent model that features heterogeneous treatment effects, spillovers, selection-on-observables, and network formation. I identify average partial effects under minimal exchangeability conditions. If social interactions are also anonymous, I derive a three-dimensional network propensity score, characterize its support conditions, relate it to recent work on network pseudo-metrics, and study extensions. I propose a two-step semiparametric estimator for a random coefficients model which is consistent and asymptotically normal as the number and size of the networks grows. I apply my estimator to a political participation intervention Uganda and a microfinance application in India. |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2209.14391&r= |
| By: | Aga,Gemechu A.; Campos,Francisco Moraes Leitao; Conconi,Adriana; Davies,Elwyn Adriaan Robin; Geginat,Carolin |
| Abstract: | In most countries in Africa, the informal sector is large and exhibits low levels of productivity compared to the formal economy: informal firms are typically small, inefficient, and run by entrepreneurs with low levels of education. This paper presents novel representative firm-level data collected on informal firms in the three largest cities of Mozambique, as well as data of microenterprises, formally registered businesses with less than 5 employees, the segment of the private sector that compares best to informal firms. Compared to formal microenterprises, informal firms sell about 14 times less, make 17 times lower profits and are 2–3 times less productive. Almost two-thirds (61 percent) of these performance gaps can be explained by differences in firm characteristics: informal firms are smaller and have limited skills, adapt fewer good business practices, use less capital and production inputs and are less likely to have access to finance. The rest of the productivity gap is explained by differential returns. Despite this “duality” between formality and informality, there is nevertheless a small but significant group of informal enterprises (7.6 percent of informal firms, representing 10.6 percent of employment in the informal sector) that in their characteristics and productivity levels are similar to formal microenterprises. Policies should take this heterogeneity into account. |
| Keywords: | Financial Sector Policy,Business in Development,Labor Markets,Common Carriers Industry,Plastics&Rubber Industry,Construction Industry,General Manufacturing,Textiles, Apparel&Leather Industry,Pulp&Paper Industry,Business Cycles and Stabilization Policies,Food&Beverage Industry |
| Date: | 2021–06–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9712&r= |
| By: | Orbeta, Aniceto Jr. C.; Paqueo, Vicente B.; Reyes, Celia M.; Ballesteros, Marife M.; Corpus, John Paul P. |
| Abstract: | This study uses a matching design to evaluate the impacts of microenterprise assistance provided by the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Sustainable Livelihood Program to beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, the Philippine government’s conditional cash transfer program. The evaluation focuses on the Seed Capital Fund, a grant worth up to PHP 10,000 per household that can be used as startup or additional capital for a microenterprise run individually or in a group. Most of the program beneficiaries are women. The study finds that treatment is associated with higher supply of labor hours among household heads’ spouses. However, the intervention has no statistically significant effects on household income, expenditure, savings, or capital expenditure. Qualitative findings on business project implementation point to serious issues which support the null estimates. These include a substantial business closure rate, lack of participation among group members in business operation, lack of earning opportunities for group members, management issues, and low profitability. Moreover, the program’s benefit-cost ratio is estimated to be substantially less than unity. Governments running similar livelihood programs should weigh whether the modest welfare gains they generate justify the high cost of running them. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable Livelihood Program;social protection;microenterprise;livelihood |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:rpseri:rps_2022-03&r= |