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Does Microfinance Really Help the Poor? New Evidence from Flagship Programs in Bangladesh

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Author Info
Jonathan Morduch (Harvard University and Stanford University)

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Abstract

The microfinance movement has built on innovations in financial intermediation that reduce the costs and risks of lending to poor households. Replications of the movement’s flagship, the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, have now spread around the world. While programs aim to bring social and economic benefits to clients, few attempts have been made to quantify benefits rigorously. This paper draws on a new cross-sectional survey of nearly 1800 households, some of which are served by the Grameen Bank and two similar programs, and some of which have no access to programs. Households that are eligible to borrow and have access to the programs do not have notably higher consumption levels than control households, and, for the most part, their children are no more likely to be in school. Men also tend to work harder, and women less. More favorably, relative to controls, households eligible for programs have substantially (and significantly) lower variation in consumption and labor supply across seasons. The most important potential impacts are thus associated with the reduction of vulnerability, not of poverty per se. The consumption-smoothing appears to be driven largely by income-smoothing, not by borrowing and lending. The evaluation holds lessons for studies of other programs in low-income countries. While it is common to use fixed effects estimators to control for unobservable variables correlated with the placement of programs, using fixed effects estimators can exacerbate biases when, as here, programs target their programs to specific populations within larger communities.

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Paper provided by Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies. in its series Working Papers with number 198.

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Date of creation: Jun 1998
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Handle: RePEc:pri:rpdevs:198

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Keywords: microfinance project evaluation Grameen Bank Bangladesh

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  1. Raffaello Bronzini & Guido de Blasio & Guido Pellegrini & Alessandro Scognamiglio, 2008. "The effect of investment tax credit: Evidence from an atypical programme in Italy," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 661, Bank of Italy, Economic Research Department. [Downloadable!]
  2. Rohini Somanathan & Isha Dewan, 2003. "Identifying targeting with nonparametric methods: An application to an Indian microfinance program," Indian Statistical Institute, Planning Unit, New Delhi Discussion Papers 03-11, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi, India. [Downloadable!]
  3. Beatriz Armendariz & Nigel Roome, 2008. "Empowering women via microfinance in fragile states," Working Papers CEB 08-001.RS, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Solvay Business School, Centre Emile Bernheim (CEB). [Downloadable!]
  4. Dean Karlan & Jonathan Zinman, 2007. "Expanding Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts," Working Papers 956, Economic Growth Center, Yale University. [Downloadable!]
  5. Karlan, Dean S. & Zinman, Jonathan, 2007. "Expanding Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts," CEPR Discussion Papers 6407, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Jonathan Conning, 2005. "Monitoring by Peers or by Delegates? Joint Liability Loans and Moral Hazard," Hunter College Department of Economics Working Papers 407, Hunter College: Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  7. Isha Dewan & Rohini Somanathan, 2004. "Poverty targeting in public programs: A comparison of alternative nonparametric methods," Indian Statistical Institute, Planning Unit, New Delhi Discussion Papers 04-16, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi, India. [Downloadable!]
  8. Hoque, Serajul, 2008. "Does Micro-credit Program in Bangladesh Increase Household’s Ability to Deal with Economic Hardships?," MPRA Paper 6678, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  9. Lucia Dalla Pellegrina, 2007. "Microfinance and Investment: a Comparison with Bank and Informal Lending," Working Papers 20070401, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Dipartimento di Statistica, revised Apr 2007. [Downloadable!]
  10. Mark Schreiner, 2001. "Aspects of Outreach: A Framework for the Discussion of the Social Benefits of Microfinance," Development and Comp Systems 0109003, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  11. Ulrike Vogelgesang, 2001. "The Impact of Microfinance Loans on the Clients' Enterprises: Caja Los Andes, Bolivia," GK working paper series 2001-03, Post Graduate Programme "Allocation on Financial Markets", University of Mannheim, revised Nov 2001. [Downloadable!]
  12. Bali Swain, Ranjula & Varghese, Adel, 2008. "Does Self Help Group Participation Lead to Asset Creation?," Working Paper Series 2008:5, Uppsala University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  13. Khandker, Shahidur R., 2003. "Microfinance and poverty - evidence using panel data from Bangladesh," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2945, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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