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Group lending with endogenous group size

Author

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  • Bourjade, Sylvain
  • Schindele, Ibolya

Abstract

This paper focuses on the size of the borrower group in group lending. We show that, when social ties in a community enhance borrowers’ incentives to exert effort, a profit-maximizing financier chooses a group of limited size. Borrowers that would be fundable under moral hazard but have insufficient social ties do not receive funding. The result arises because there is a trade-off between raising profits through increased group size and providing incentives for borrowers with less social ties. The result may explain why many micro-lending institutions and rural credit cooperatives lend to groups of small size.

Suggested Citation

  • Bourjade, Sylvain & Schindele, Ibolya, 2012. "Group lending with endogenous group size," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(3), pages 556-560.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:117:y:2012:i:3:p:556-560
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2012.07.034
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. 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 601-631, July.
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    3. Laffont, Jean-Jacques & N'Guessan, Tchetche, 2000. "Group lending with adverse selection," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(4-6), pages 773-784, May.
    4. Uri Gneezy, 2005. "Deception: The Role of Consequences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 384-394, March.
    5. Laffont, Jean-Jacques, 2003. "Collusion and group lending with adverse selection," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 329-348, April.
    6. de Aghion, Beatriz Armendariz & Gollier, Christian, 2000. "Peer Group Formation in an Adverse Selection Model," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(465), pages 632-643, July.
    7. Besley, Timothy & Coate, Stephen, 1995. "Group lending, repayment incentives and social collateral," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 1-18, February.
    8. DeanS. Karlan, 2007. "Social connections and group banking," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(517), pages 52-84, February.
    9. Ghatak, Maitreesh & Guinnane, Timothy W., 1999. "The economics of lending with joint liability: theory and practice," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 195-228, October.
    10. Mark Wenner, 1995. "Group credit: A means to improve information transfer and loan repayment performance," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(2), pages 263-281.
    11. repec:dau:papers:123456789/1674 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Xavier Giné & Dean Karlan, 2009. "Group versus Individual Liability: Long Term Evidence from Philippine Microcredit Lending Groups," Working Papers 970, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    13. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5133 is not listed on IDEAS
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    Cited by:

    1. Philip Protter & Alejandra Quintos, 2022. "Optimal group size in microlending," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 121-132, March.
    2. Peter Simmons & Nongnuch Tantisantiwong, 2018. "Evaluation of Individual and Group Lending under Asymmetric information," Discussion Papers 18/01, Department of Economics, University of York.
    3. Mohammed Kaicer & Abdelilah Kaddar, 2019. "Mathematical Analysis of Dynamic Risk Default in Microfinance," Papers 1907.04937, arXiv.org.
    4. Bahar Rezaei & Sriram Dasu & Reza Ahmadi, 2017. "Optimal Group Size in Joint Liability Contracts," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 14(3), pages 204-225, September.
    5. Peter J. Simmons & Nongnuch Tantisantiwong, 2022. "The Socially Optimal Loan Auditing with Multiple Projects," Discussion Papers 22/07, Department of Economics, University of York.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Group lending; Moral hazard; Social capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
    • G2 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services

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