IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/esprep/123722.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Microcredit and Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh: Beyond Publication Bias, Does Genuine Effect Exist?

Author

Listed:
  • Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa
  • Korankye Danso, Jeffrey
  • Appau, Samuelson

Abstract

We review the empirical evidence on the impact of microcredit on poverty in Bangladesh. Drawing on evidence from seven empirical studies with 306 estimates, we examine the impact of microcredit on three proxies of poverty – income, assets and consumption/expenditure. After addressing issues of publication selection bias, we find that microcredit has a statistically insignificant effect on income, and also on assets. Evidence shows a positive but weak effect of microcredit on consumption/expenditure. Meta-regression analysis reveals that sources of variations in the existing literature such as study design, data characteristics and empirical methodology can explain the differences in reported estimates.

Suggested Citation

  • Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Korankye Danso, Jeffrey & Appau, Samuelson, 2015. "Microcredit and Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh: Beyond Publication Bias, Does Genuine Effect Exist?," EconStor Preprints 123722, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:esprep:123722
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/123722/1/Microcredit%20and%20Poverty.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matthieu Chemin, 2008. "The Benefits and Costs of Microfinance: Evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(4), pages 463-484, April.
    2. Dean Karlan & Jonathan Zinman, 2010. "Expanding Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(1), pages 433-464, January.
    3. Alam, Saad, 2012. "The Effect of Gender-Based Returns to Borrowing on Intra-Household Resource Allocation in Rural Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1164-1180.
    4. Mehmet Ugur, 2014. "Corruption'S Direct Effects On Per-Capita Income Growth: A Meta-Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 472-490, July.
    5. van Rooyen, C. & Stewart, R. & de Wet, T., 2012. "The Impact of Microfinance in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review of the Evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(11), pages 2249-2262.
    6. Garikipati, Supriya, 2008. "The Impact of Lending to Women on Household Vulnerability and Women's Empowerment: Evidence from India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 2620-2642, December.
    7. Alptekin, Aynur & Levine, Paul, 2012. "Military expenditure and economic growth: A meta-analysis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 636-650.
    8. Katsushi S. Imai & MD. Shafiul Azam, 2011. "Does Microfinance Reduce Poverty in Bangladesh? New Evidence from Household Panel Data," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(5), pages 633-653, October.
    9. Benjamin Feigenberg & Erica M. Field & Rohini Pande, 2010. "Building Social Capital Through MicroFinance," NBER Working Papers 16018, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Mark M. Pitt & Shahidur R. Khandker, 1998. "The Impact of Group-Based Credit Programs on Poor Households in Bangladesh: Does the Gender of Participants Matter?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(5), pages 958-996, October.
    11. Chris Doucouliagos, 2005. "Publication Bias in the Economic Freedom and Economic Growth Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 367-387, July.
    12. Shahidur R. Khandker, 2005. "Microfinance and Poverty: Evidence Using Panel Data from Bangladesh," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 19(2), pages 263-286.
    13. Asadul Islam, 2011. "Medium- and Long-Term Participation in Microcredit: An Evaluation Using a New Panel Dataset from Bangladesh," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 93(3), pages 843-862.
    14. Xia Li & Christopher Gan & Baiding Hu, 2011. "The impact of microcredit on women's empowerment: evidence from China," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(3), pages 239-261.
    15. Gwendolyn Alexander Tedeschi, 2008. "Overcoming Selection Bias in Microcredit Impact Assessments: A Case Study in Peru," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(4), pages 504-518, April.
    16. T. D. Stanley, 2008. "Meta‐Regression Methods for Detecting and Estimating Empirical Effects in the Presence of Publication Selection," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 70(1), pages 103-127, February.
    17. T.D. Stanley & Hristos Doucouliagos & Margaret Giles & Jost H. Heckemeyer & Robert J. Johnston & Patrice Laroche & Jon P. Nelson & Martin Paldam & Jacques Poot & Geoff Pugh & Randall S. Rosenberger & , 2013. "Meta-Analysis Of Economics Research Reporting Guidelines," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 390-394, April.
    18. Maria Abreu & Henri L. F. de Groot & Raymond J. G. M. Florax, 2005. "A Meta‐Analysis of β‐Convergence: the Legendary 2%," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 389-420, July.
    19. Card, David & Krueger, Alan B, 1995. "Time-Series Minimum-Wage Studies: A Meta-analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 238-243, May.
    20. Guush Berhane & Cornelis Gardebroek, 2010. "Does Microfinance Reduce Rural Poverty? Evidence Based on Household Panel Data from Northern Ethiopia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 93(1), pages 43-55.
    21. J. Copestake & S. Bhalotra & S. Johnson, 2001. "Assessing the Impact of Microcredit: A Zambian Case Study," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(4), pages 81-100.
    22. T.D. Stanley & Hristos Doucouliagos & Margaret Giles & Jost Heckemeyer & Robert Johnston & Patrice Laroche & Jon Nelson & Martin Paldam & Jacques Poot & Geoff Pugh & Randall Rosenberger & Katja Rost, 2013. "Meta-analysis of economics research reporting guidelines," Post-Print hal-02137661, HAL.
    23. Laura De Dominicis & Raymond J. G. M. Florax & Henri L. F. De Groot, 2008. "A Meta‐Analysis On The Relationship Between Income Inequality And Economic Growth," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 55(5), pages 654-682, November.
    24. Maria Abreu & Henri L.F. de Groot & Raymond J.G.M. Florax, 2005. "A Meta-Analysis of Beta-Convergence: The Legendary Two-Percent," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 05-001/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Sefa K. Awaworyi, 2014. "The Impact of Microfinance Interventions: A Meta-analysis," Monash Economics Working Papers 03-14, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    2. Olga Gorelkina & Ioanna Grypari & Erin Hengel, 2019. "One strike and you’re out! The Master Lever’s effect on senatorial policy-making," Working Papers 201906, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    3. Supriya Garikipati & Rebecca J. Docherty & Penelope A. Phillips-Howard, 2019. "What’s the bleeding problem? Policy and attitudes towards sustainable menstrual hygiene materials in India," Working Papers 201907, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    4. Ranjula Bali Swain & Supriya Garikipati, 2019. "Microfinance in the Global South: Examining Evidence on Social Efficacy," Working Papers 201908, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    5. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Mehmet Ugur & Siew Ling Yew, 2017. "Does Government Size Affect Per-Capita Income Growth? A Hierarchical Meta-Regression Analysis," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 93(300), pages 142-171, March.
    6. Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña & Serrano-Cinca, Carlos, 2019. "20 years of research in microfinance: An information management approach," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 183-197.
    7. Mora Rodríguez, Jhon James & Muro, Juan, 2015. "On the size of sheepskin effects: A meta-analysis," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 9, pages 1-18.
    8. Maria Porter, 2016. "Effects of microcredit and other loans on female empowerment in Bangladesh: the borrower's gender influences intra-household resource allocation," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 47(2), pages 235-245, March.
    9. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Siew Ling Yew, 2018. "The effect of military expenditure on growth: an empirical synthesis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 1357-1387, November.
    10. Awaworyi Churchill, S. & Yew, S.L., 2017. "Are government transfers harmful to economic growth? A meta-analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 270-287.
    11. Islam, Asadul, 2015. "Heterogeneous effects of microcredit: Evidence from large-scale programs in Bangladesh," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 48-58.
    12. Stanley, T.D. & Doucouliagos, Chris & Jarrell, Stephen B., 2008. "Meta-regression analysis as the socio-economics of economics research," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 276-292, February.
    13. Iamsiraroj, Sasi & Doucouliagos, Hristos, 2015. "Does growth attract FDI?," Economics Discussion Papers 2015-18, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    14. Hisaki KONO & Kazushi TAKAHASHI, 2010. "Microfinance Revolution: Its Effects, Innovations, And Challenges," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 48(1), pages 15-73, March.
    15. Khandker, Shahidur R. & Samad, Hussain A., 2014. "Microfinance Growth and Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh: What Does the Longitudinal Data Say?," Bangladesh Development Studies, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), vol. 37(1-2), pages 127-157, March-Jun.
    16. Petra Valickova & Tomas Havranek & Roman Horvath, 2015. "Financial Development And Economic Growth: A Meta-Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 506-526, July.
    17. Jarle Møen & Helge Sandvig Thorsen, 2017. "Publication Bias in the Returns to R&D Literature," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 8(3), pages 987-1013, September.
    18. Sebri, Maamar & Dachraoui, Hajer, 2021. "Natural resources and income inequality: A meta-analytic review," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    19. Ghulam Hussain, A.K.M. & Nargis, Nigar & Ashiquzzaman, S.M. & Khalil, Fahad, 2019. "The employment impact of microcredit program participation in Bangladesh: Evidence from a longitudinal household survey," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 34-49.
    20. Ugur, Mehmet & Mitra, Arup, 2014. "Effects of innovation on employment in low-income countries: A mixed-method systematic review," MPRA Paper 58214, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 27 Aug 2014.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Microfinance; Poverty; Bangladesh; Meta-analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:zbw:esprep:123722. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    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.