IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/ajagec/v103y2021i3p923-943.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Insured Loans and Credit Access: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment in Northern Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Khushbu Mishra
  • Richard A. Gallenstein
  • Mario J. Miranda
  • Abdoul G. Sam
  • Patricia Toledo
  • Francis Mulangu

Abstract

We conducted a two‐treatment randomized control trial in northern Ghana to investigate how bundling index insurance with agricultural loans affects smallholder access to credit. In one treatment, farmer groups were invited to apply for production loans bundled with an index insurance contract that, in the event of a drought, indemnifies farmers directly (micro‐insured loans). In the second treatment, farmer groups were invited to apply for production loans bundled with an index insurance contract that, in the event of a drought, indemnifies the lender on the condition that the indemnity be used to retire the farmer's debt obligation (meso‐insured loans). Farmer groups in the control category were invited to apply for uninsured loans. We find that insured loans increase farmers' likelihood of receiving credit by between 15 and 21 percentage points. Exploring the mechanisms of this effect, we find no impact on the likelihood that farmers apply for credit but do find an increase in the likelihood of loan approvals of between 17 and 25 percentage points.

Suggested Citation

  • Khushbu Mishra & Richard A. Gallenstein & Mario J. Miranda & Abdoul G. Sam & Patricia Toledo & Francis Mulangu, 2021. "Insured Loans and Credit Access: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment in Northern Ghana," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(3), pages 923-943, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:ajagec:v:103:y:2021:i:3:p:923-943
    DOI: 10.1111/ajae.12136
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajae.12136
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ajae.12136?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sugato Chakravarty & Abu Zafar Shahriar, 2010. "Relationship Lending in Microcredit: Evidence from Bangladesh," Working Papers 1005, Purdue University, Department of Consumer Sciences.
    2. Shawn Cole & Xavier Gine & Jeremy Tobacman & Petia Topalova & Robert Townsend & James Vickery, 2013. "Barriers to Household Risk Management: Evidence from India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 104-135, January.
    3. Stiglitz, J & Weiss, A, 1983. "Alternative Approaches to Analyzing Markets with Asymmetric Information: Reply [The Theory of 'Screening,' Education, and the Distribution of Income]," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(1), pages 246-249, March.
    4. Dean Karlan & Robert Osei & Isaac Osei-Akoto & Christopher Udry, 2014. "Agricultural Decisions after Relaxing Credit and Risk Constraints," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(2), pages 597-652.
    5. Farrin, Katie & Miranda, Mario J., 2015. "A heterogeneous agent model of credit-linked index insurance and farm technology adoption," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 199-211.
    6. Carter, Michael R. & Cheng, Lan & Sarris, Alexandros, 2016. "Where and how index insurance can boost the adoption of improved agricultural technologies," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 59-71.
    7. Allen, Treb, 2016. "Optimal (partial) group liability in microfinance lending," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 201-216.
    8. Alberto Abadie & Susan Athey & Guido W Imbens & Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2023. "When Should You Adjust Standard Errors for Clustering?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(1), pages 1-35.
    9. Foster, Andrew D & Rosenzweig, Mark R, 1995. "Learning by Doing and Learning from Others: Human Capital and Technical Change in Agriculture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(6), pages 1176-1209, December.
    10. Belissa, Temesgen & Bulte, Erwin & Cecchi, Francesco & Gangopadhyay, Shubhashis & Lensink, Robert, 2019. "Liquidity constraints, informal institutions, and the adoption of weather insurance: A randomized controlled Trial in Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 269-278.
    11. 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.
    12. Gin, Xavier & Yang, Dean, 2009. "Insurance, credit, and technology adoption: Field experimental evidencefrom Malawi," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 1-11, May.
    13. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Timothy Besley & Timothy W. Guinnane, 1994. "Thy Neighbor's Keeper: The Design of a Credit Cooperative with Theory and a Test," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(2), pages 491-515.
    14. Stephen R. Boucher & Michael R. Carter & Catherine Guirkinger, 2008. "Risk Rationing and Wealth Effects in Credit Markets: Theory and Implications for Agricultural Development," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 90(2), pages 409-423.
    15. Giné, Xavier & Karlan, Dean S., 2014. "Group versus individual liability: Short and long term evidence from Philippine microcredit lending groups," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 65-83.
    16. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1990. "Peer Monitoring and Credit Markets," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 4(3), pages 351-366, September.
    17. Dean Karlan & Ed Kutsoati & Margaret McMillan & Chris Udry, 2011. "Crop Price Indemnified Loans for Farmers: A Pilot Experiment in Rural Ghana," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 78(1), pages 37-55, March.
    18. Miriam Bruhn & David McKenzie, 2009. "In Pursuit of Balance: Randomization in Practice in Development Field Experiments," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(4), pages 200-232, October.
    19. Olivier Mahul & Charles J. Stutley, 2010. "Government Support to Agricultural Insurance : Challenges and Options for Developing Countries," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2432, December.
    20. Ana Marr & Anne Winkel & Marcel van Asseldonk & Robert Lensink & Erwin Bulte, 2016. "Adoption and impact of index-insurance and credit for smallholder farmers in developing countries," Agricultural Finance Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 76(1), pages 94-118, May.
    21. Temesgen Belissa & Robert Lensink & Anne Winkel, 2020. "Effects of Index Insurance on Demand and Supply of Credit: Evidence from Ethiopia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(5), pages 1511-1531, October.
    22. Bernd Hardeweg & Lukas Menkhoff & Hermann Waibel, 2013. "Experimentally Validated Survey Evidence on Individual Risk Attitudes in Rural Thailand," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(4), pages 859-888.
    23. Mario J. Miranda & Katie Farrin, 2012. "Index Insurance for Developing Countries," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 34(3), pages 391-427.
    24. Boucher, Stephen R. & Carter, Michael R. & Guirkinger, Catherine, 2008. "AJAE Appendix: Risk Rationing and Wealth Effects in Credit Markets: Theory and Implications for Agriculture Development," American Journal of Agricultural Economics APPENDICES, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 90(2), pages 1-6.
    25. Richard A. Gallenstein & Khushbu Mishra & Abdoul G. Sam & Mario J. Miranda, 2019. "Willingness to Pay for Insured Loans in Northern Ghana," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(3), pages 640-662, September.
    26. McKenzie, David, 2012. "Beyond baseline and follow-up: The case for more T in experiments," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 210-221.
    27. Sugato Chakravarty & Tansel Yilmazer, 2009. "A Multistage Model of Loans and the Role of Relationships," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(4), pages 781-816, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. DunGang Zang & Krishna P. Paudel & Yan Liu & Dan Liu & Yating He, 2023. "Financial decision-making behaviors of Ethnic Tibetan Households based on mental accounting," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-26, December.
    2. Khushbu Mishra & Richard A. Gallenstein & Abdoul G. Sam & Mario J. Miranda & Patricia Toledo & Francis Mulangu, 2023. "Does bundling credit with index insurance boost agricultural technology adoption? Evidence from Ghana," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(6), pages 778-792, November.
    3. Mekdim D. Regassa & Mohammed B. Degnet & Mequanint B. Melesse, 2023. "Access to credit and heterogeneous effects on agricultural technology adoption: Evidence from large rural surveys in Ethiopia," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 71(2), pages 231-253, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Khushbu Mishra & Richard A. Gallenstein & Abdoul G. Sam & Mario J. Miranda & Patricia Toledo & Francis Mulangu, 2023. "Does bundling credit with index insurance boost agricultural technology adoption? Evidence from Ghana," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(6), pages 778-792, November.
    2. Apurba Shee & Calum G. Turvey & Ana Marr, 2021. "Heterogeneous Demand and Supply for an Insurance‐linked Credit Product in Kenya: A Stated Choice Experiment Approach," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(1), pages 244-267, February.
    3. Mishra, K., 2018. "You are Approved! Insured Loans Improve Credit Access and Technology Adoption of Ghanaian Farmers," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277089, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Shukri Ahmed & Craig McIntosh & Alexandros Sarris, 2020. "The Impact of Commercial Rainfall Index Insurance: Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(4), pages 1154-1176, August.
    5. Richard A. Gallenstein & Jon Einar Flatnes & John P. Dougherty & Abdoul G. Sam & Khushbu Mishra, 2021. "The impact of index‐insured loans on credit market participation and risk‐taking," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 52(1), pages 141-156, January.
    6. Naranjo, María A. & Pieters, Janneke & Alpízar, Francisco, 2019. "Credit, insurance and farmers’ liability: Evidence from a lab in the field experiment with coffee farmers in Costa Rica," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 12-27.
    7. Temesgen Belissa & Robert Lensink & Anne Winkel, 2020. "Effects of Index Insurance on Demand and Supply of Credit: Evidence from Ethiopia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(5), pages 1511-1531, October.
    8. Kenneth W. Sibiko & Matin Qaim, 2020. "Weather index insurance, agricultural input use, and crop productivity in Kenya," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(1), pages 151-167, February.
    9. de Janvry, Alain & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 2020. "Using agriculture for development: Supply- and demand-side approaches," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    10. Dougherty, John P. & Flatnes, Jon Einar & Gallenstein, Richard A. & Miranda, Mario J. & Sam, Abdoul G., 2020. "Climate change and index insurance demand: Evidence from a framed field experiment in Tanzania," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 155-184.
    11. Stoeffler, Quentin & Opuz, Gülce, 2022. "Price, information and product quality: Explaining index insurance demand in Burkina Faso," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    12. Shukkri AHMED & Craig MCINTOSH & Alexandros SARRIS, 2017. "The Impact of Commercial Rainfall Index Insurance: Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia," Working Papers 4289, FERDI.
    13. Alain de Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2019. "Transforming developing country agriculture: Removing adoption constraints and promoting inclusive value chain development," Working Papers hal-02287668, HAL.
    14. Jensen, Nathaniel D. & Mude, Andrew G. & Barrett, Christopher B., 2018. "How basis risk and spatiotemporal adverse selection influence demand for index insurance: Evidence from northern Kenya," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 172-198.
    15. Shukkri AHMED & Craig MCINTOSH & Alexandros SARRIS, 2017. "The Impact of Commercial Rainfall Index Insurance: Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia," Working Papers 4288, FERDI.
    16. Quentin Stoeffler & Michael Carter & Catherine Guirkinger & Wouter Gelade, 2022. "The Spillover Impact of Index Insurance on Agricultural Investment by Cotton Farmers in Burkina Faso," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 36(1), pages 114-140.
    17. Flatnes, Jon Einar & Carter, Michael R., 2019. "A little skin in the game: Reducing moral hazard in joint liability lending through a mandatory collateral requirement," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 199-214.
    18. Sarah Janzen & Nicholas Magnan & Conner Mullally & Soye Shin & I. Bailey Palmer & Judith Oduol & Karl Hughes, 2021. "Can Experiential Games and Improved Risk Coverage Raise Demand for Index Insurance? Evidence from Kenya," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(1), pages 338-361, January.
    19. Matthieu Stigler & David Lobell, 2020. "On the benefits of index insurance in US agriculture: a large-scale analysis using satellite data," Papers 2011.12544, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2021.
    20. Adjognon,Guigonan Serge & Nguyen Huy,Tung & Guthoff,Jonas Christoph & van Soest,Daan, 2022. "Incentivizing Social Learning for the Diffusion of Climate-Smart Agricultural Techniques," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10041, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:ajagec:v:103:y:2021:i:3:p:923-943. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-8276 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.