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Social connections and group banking

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Author Info
DeanS. Karlan

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Abstract

Lending to the poor is expensive due to high screening, monitoring and enforcement costs. Group lending advocates believe lenders overcome this by harnessing social connections. Using data from FINCA-Peru, I exploit a quasi-random group formation process to find evidence of peers successfully monitoring and enforcing joint-liability loans. Individuals with stronger social connections to their fellow group members (i.e., either living closer or being of a similar culture) have higher repayment and higher savings. Furthermore, I observe direct evidence that relationships deteriorate after default, and that through successful monitoring, individuals know who to punish and who not to punish after default. Copyright 2007 The Author(s). Journal compilation Royal Economic Society 2007.

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File URL: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2007.02015.x
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Publisher Info
Article provided by Royal Economic Society in its journal The Economic Journal.

Volume (Year): 117 (2007)
Issue (Month): 517 (02)
Pages: F52-F84
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Handle: RePEc:ecj:econjl:v:117:y:2007:i:517:p:f52-f84

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Banerjee, Abhijit V & Besley, Timothy & Guinnane, Timothy W, 1994. "Thy Neighbor's Keeper: The Design of a Credit Cooperative with Theory and a Test," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 109(2), pages 491-515, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. de Aghion, Beatriz Armendariz & Gollier, Christian, 2000. "Peer Group Formation in an Adverse Selection Model," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(465), pages 632-43, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Armendariz de Aghion, Beatriz, 1999. "On the design of a credit agreement with peer monitoring," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 79-104, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Zak, Paul J & Knack, Stephen, 2001. "Trust and Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(470), pages 295-321, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Gine, Xavier & Karlan, Dean S., 2006. "Group versus individual liability : a field experiment in the Philippines," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4008, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Garance Genicot & Debraj Ray, 2003. "Group Formation in Risk--Sharing Arrangements," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 70(1), pages 87-113, January.
  7. Dean S. Karlan, 2005. "Using Experimental Economics to Measure Social Capital And Predict Financial Decisions," Working Papers 909, Economic Growth Center, Yale University. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2004. "The Role of Social Capital in Financial Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 526-556, June. [Downloadable!]
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  9. Besley, Timothy & Coate, Stephen, 1995. "Group lending, repayment incentives and social collateral," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 1-18, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. La Ferrara, Eliana, 2003. "Kin Groups and Reciprocity: A Model of Credit Transactions in Ghana," CEPR Discussion Papers 3705, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Besley, Timothy & Coate, Stephen & Loury, Glenn, 1993. "The Economics of Rotating Savings and Credit Associations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(4), pages 792-810, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Ghatak, Maitreesh, 2000. "Screening by the Company You Keep: Joint Liability Lending and the Peer Selection Effect," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(465), pages 601-31, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Alberto Alesina & Reza Baqir & Caroline Hoxby, 2004. "Political Jurisdictions in Heterogeneous Communities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(2), pages 348-396, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Gine, Xavier & Jakiela, Pamela & Karlan, Dean & Morduch, Jonathan, 2006. "Microfinance games," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3959, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
    • Xavier Gine & Pamela Jakiela & Dean Karlan & Jonathan Morduch, 2006. "Microfinance Games," Working Papers 2102, The Field Experiments Website. [Downloadable!]
    • Dean Karlan & Xavier Gine & Jonathan Morduch & Pamela Jakiela, 2006. "Microfinance Games," Working Papers 936, Economic Growth Center, Yale University. [Downloadable!]
  16. Ashok S. Rai & Tomas Sj–str–m, 2004. "Is Grameen Lending Efficient? Repayment Incentives and Insurance in Village Economies," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 71(1), pages 217-234, 01. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Sharma, Manohar & Zeller, Manfred, 1997. "Repayment performance in group-based credit programs in Bangladesh: An empirical analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(10), pages 1731-1742, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Christian Ahlin & Robert Townsend, 2002. "Using Repayment Data to Test Across Models of Joint Liability Lending," Working Papers 0227, Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University. [Downloadable!]
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  24. Ghatak, Maitreesh, 1999. "Group lending, local information and peer selection," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 27-50, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Jonathan Morduch, 1999. "The Microfinance Promise," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(4), pages 1569-1614, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  26. Uphoff, Norman & Wijayaratna, C. M., 2000. "Demonstrated Benefits from Social Capital: The Productivity of Farmer Organizations in Gal Oya, Sri Lanka," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(11), pages 1875-1890, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  27. Zeller, Manfred, 1998. "Determinants of Repayment Performance in Credit Groups: The Role of Program Design, Intragroup Risk Pooling, and Social Cohesion," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(3), pages 599-620, April.
  28. Maitreesh Ghatak & Timothy W. Guinnane, 1998. "The Economics of Lending with Joint Liability: Theory and Practice," Discussion Papers 98-16, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
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  29. Ellison, Glenn & Glaeser, Edward L, 1997. "Geographic Concentration in U.S. Manufacturing Industries: A Dartboard Approach," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(5), pages 889-927, October.
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  30. Morduch, Jonathan, 1999. "The role of subsidies in microfinance: evidence from the Grameen Bank," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 229-248, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  31. Pollak, Robert A, 1985. "A Transaction Cost Approach to Families and Households," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 23(2), pages 581-608, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  32. Wydick, Bruce, 1999. "Can Social Cohesion Be Harnessed to Repair Market Failures? Evidence from Group Lending in Guatemala," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(457), pages 463-75, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  33. Dean S. Karlan, 2004. "Using Experimental Economics to Measure Social Capital and Predict Financial Decisions," Artefactual Field Experiments 0062, The Field Experiments Website. [Downloadable!]
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Rai, Ashok S. & Klonner, Stefan, 2007. "Cosigners Help," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Göttingen 2007 18, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Gine, Xavier & Karlan, Dean S., 2006. "Group versus individual liability : a field experiment in the Philippines," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4008, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Christian Ahlin & Neville Jiang, 2005. "Can Micro-Credit Bring Development?," Working Papers 05019, Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University. [Downloadable!]
  4. Dean Karlan & Xavier Gine & Jonathan Morduch & Pamela Jakiela, 2006. "Microfinance Games," Working Papers 936, Economic Growth Center, Yale University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Dean S. Karlan, 2005. "Using Experimental Economics to Measure Social Capital and Predict Financial Decisions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(5), pages 1688-1699, December. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Dean S. Karlan, 2004. "Using Experimental Economics to Measure Social Capital and Predict Financial Decisions," Artefactual Field Experiments 0062, The Field Experiments Website. [Downloadable!]
  7. Karlan, Dean S. & Zinman, Jonathan, 2007. "Observing Unobservables: Identifying Information Asymmetries with a Consumer Credit Field Experiment," CEPR Discussion Papers 6182, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Hisaki Kono, 2006. "Is Group Lending A Good Enforcement Scheme for Achieving High Repayment Rates? Evidence from Field Experiments in Vietnam," Artefactual Field Experiments 0063, The Field Experiments Website. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Soyolmaa Batbekh and & Keith Blackburn, 2008. "On the Macroeconomics of Microfi?nance," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 106, Economics, The Univeristy of Manchester. [Downloadable!]
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