Does Subsidising the Cost of Capital Help the Poorest? An Analysis of Saving Opportunities in Group Lending
Abstract
This paper shows that subsidising the cost of capital restricts the ability of the poorest to participate in the group lending mechanisms that include saving opportunities. We document the group lending mechanism used by a typical microfinance lender in Haryana, India. Individuals can participate in the group either as a borrower or a saver. The lender requires that the borrower partly self-finance their project with their own cash wealth. Consequently, a borrower requires a minimum amount of cash wealth to borrow. The poorest participate in the group by co-financing the borrower's project with their meagre savings. In return, they obtain higher than market returns on their savings. Subsidising the cost of capital reduces the cash wealth required to participate in the group as a borrower. Conversely, it increases the cash wealth required to participate as a saver, thus curtailing the opportunity for the poorest to enrich themselves.Download Info
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Paper provided by Edinburgh School of Economics, University of Edinburgh in its series ESE Discussion Papers with number 140.Length: 40
Date of creation: Feb 2006
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:edn:esedps:140
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Related research
Keywords: Group Lending; Microfinance; Savings; Outreach;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
- G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
- O12 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
- O2 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2006-03-05 (All new papers)
- NEP-CFN-2006-03-05 (Corporate Finance)
- NEP-DEV-2006-03-05 (Development)
- NEP-FIN-2006-03-05 (Finance)
- NEP-MFD-2006-03-05 (Microfinance)
References
References listed on IDEASPlease 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.:
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Beatriz Armendariz & Ariane Szafarz, 2011.
"On Mission Drift in Microfinance Institutions,"
ULB Institutional Repository
2013/97387, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
- Beatriz Armendariz & Ariane Szafarz, 2009. "On Mission Drift In Microfinance Institutions," Working Papers CEB 09-015.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
- Armendáriz, Beatriz & Szafarz, Ariane, 2011. "On mission drift in microfinance institutions," MPRA Paper 31041, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2010.
- Jaideep Roy & Prabal Roy Chowdhury, 2008.
"Public-private partnerships in microfinance: Should NGO involvement be restricted?,"
Indian Statistical Institute, Planning Unit, New Delhi Discussion Papers
08-11, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi, India.
- Roy, Jaideep & Chowdhury, Prabal Roy, 2009. "Public-private partnerships in micro-finance: Should NGO involvement be restricted?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 200-208, November.
- Roy Chowdhury, Prabal & Roy, Jaideep, 2007. "Public-private Partnerships in Micro-finance: Should NGO Involvement be Restricted?," MPRA Paper 4469, University Library of Munich, Germany.
- Koen Rossel-Cambier, 2011. "Is Combined Microfinance an Instrument to enhance Sustainable Pro-Poor Public Policy Outcomes?," Working Papers CEB 11-013, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
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