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Microcredit in Industrialized Countries: Unexpected Consequences of Regulatory Loan Ceilings

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  • Anastasia Cozarenco
  • Ariane Szafarz

Abstract

Subsidized microfinance institutions (MFIs) provide affordable credit to small entrepreneurs. Many industrialized countries regulate MFIs. But in a market with accessible small business financing, regulatory loan ceilings can jeopardize the supply of microcredit to the most disadvantaged people. This is because small entrepreneurs in need of above-ceiling credit have the option to combine a ceiling-high microcredit with a supplementary loan from a regular bank. By reducing information asymmetry, this type of co-financing may prompt MFIs to divert credit away from entrepreneurs seeking below-ceiling loans. This study uses hand-collected data from a French MFI to test, and partly confirm, this theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Anastasia Cozarenco & Ariane Szafarz, 2016. "Microcredit in Industrialized Countries: Unexpected Consequences of Regulatory Loan Ceilings," Working Papers CEB 16-021, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/229550
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    Cited by:

    1. Renaud Bourlès & Anastasia Cozarenco, 2018. "Entrepreneurial motivation and business performance: evidence from a French Microfinance Institution," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 943-963, December.
    2. Arbolino, Roberta & Carlucci, Fabio & Cirà, Andrea & Yigitcanlar, Tan & Ioppolo, Giuseppe, 2018. "Mitigating regional disparities through microfinancing: An analysis of microcredit as a sustainability tool for territorial development in Italy," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 281-288.
    3. Lucia Dalla Pellegrina & Damla Diriker & Paolo Landoni & Davide Moro & Mahinda Wijesiri, 2023. "Efficiency and Outreach in the European Microfinance Sector," Working Papers 515, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Microcredit; microfinance; regulation; loan ceiling; self-employment; entrepreneurs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe
    • L31 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Nonprofit Institutions; NGOs; Social Entrepreneurship
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • C25 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions; Probabilities
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups

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