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Give Me a Pass: Flexible Credit for Entrepreneurs in Colombia

Author

Listed:
  • Lasse Brune
  • Xavier Giné
  • Dean Karlan

Abstract

Although microcredit has reached millions, recent randomized evaluations find limited average business impacts. Contract rigidity, specifically the fixed and frequent installments, may limit productive risk-taking and thus diminish impact on average profits but risk triggering moral hazard. We test this with a Colombian lender that experimentally compared, for a sample of new borrowers, rigid lending to a loan product that included three “passes” to push off a monthly payment to the future. The flexible loan did lead to some shifts in investment behavior but no average impact on revenue or profits level or variance, and did lead to higher default.

Suggested Citation

  • Lasse Brune & Xavier Giné & Dean Karlan, 2022. "Give Me a Pass: Flexible Credit for Entrepreneurs in Colombia," NBER Working Papers 30634, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30634
    Note: CF DEV LE PR
    as

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    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • O21 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Planning Models; Planning Policy

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