IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cje/issued/v34y2001i4p943-966.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Membership has its privileges: the effect of social capital and neighbourhood characteristics on the earnings of microfinance borrowers

Author

Listed:
  • Rafael Gomez
  • Eric Santor

Abstract

In this paper we examine the determinants of self-employment success for microcredit borrowers. Theories of social capital and neighbourhood effects are integrated in an attempt to account for earnings differentials among a unique sample of microfinance borrowers. We posit that social capital - social relations that facilitate individual action - is essential for microentrepreneurial success. Based on a survey and data collected by the authors, it is demonstrated that social capital is a positive determinant of self-employment earnings. The role that neighbourhoods play in fostering social capital and improving microentrepreneurial performance are also highlighted.

Suggested Citation

  • Rafael Gomez & Eric Santor, 2001. "Membership has its privileges: the effect of social capital and neighbourhood characteristics on the earnings of microfinance borrowers," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 34(4), pages 943-966, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:cje:issued:v:34:y:2001:i:4:p:943-966
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0008-4085%28200111%2934%3A4%3C943%3AMHIPTE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-A
    Download Restriction: only available to JSTOR subscribers
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Harry J. Holzer, 1987. "Hiring Procedures in the Firm: Their Economic Determinants and Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 2185, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Benabou, Roland, 1996. "Heterogeneity, Stratification, and Growth: Macroeconomic Implications of Community Structure and School Finance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 584-609, June.
    3. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Ethnic Capital And Intergenerational Mobility," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 6, pages 107-134, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. William A. Darity & Arthur H. Goldsmith, 1996. "Social Psychology, Unemployment and Macroeconomics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 121-140, Winter.
    5. La Porta, Rafael, et al, 1997. "Trust in Large Organizations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 333-338, May.
    6. Edward L. Glaeser & David Laibson & Bruce Sacerdote, 2002. "An Economic Approach to Social Capital," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(483), pages 437-458, November.
    7. Durlauf, Steven N., 1994. "Spillovers, stratification, and inequality," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(3-4), pages 836-845, April.
    8. Ciccone, Antonio & Hall, Robert E, 1996. "Productivity and the Density of Economic Activity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 54-70, March.
    9. John F. Helliwell, 1996. "Do Borders Matter for Social Capital? Economic Growth and Civic Culture in U.S. States and Canadian Provinces," NBER Working Papers 5863, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Oded Galor & Joseph Zeira, 1993. "Income Distribution and Macroeconomics," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(1), pages 35-52.
    11. Ihlanfeldt, Keith R., 1997. "Information on the Spatial Distribution of Job Opportunities within Metropolitan Areas," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 218-242, March.
    12. Narayan, Deepa & Pritchett, Lant, 1999. "Cents and Sociability: Household Income and Social Capital in Rural Tanzania," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(4), pages 871-897, July.
    13. 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.
    14. Glaeser, Edward L. & Scheinkman, JoseA. & Shleifer, Andrei, 1995. "Economic growth in a cross-section of cities," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 117-143, August.
    15. Maluccio, John A. & Haddad, Lawrence James & May, Julian, 1999. "Social capital and income generation in South Africa, 1993-98," FCND discussion papers 71, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    16. Edward L. Glaeser, 1998. "Are Cities Dying?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 139-160, Spring.
    17. Evans, David S & Leighton, Linda S, 1989. "Some Empirical Aspects of Entrepreneurship," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(3), pages 519-535, June.
    18. Davidson, Russell & MacKinnon, James G., 1993. "Estimation and Inference in Econometrics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195060119, Decembrie.
    19. Mary Corcoran & Roger H. Gordon & Deborah Laren & Gary Solon, 1989. "Effects of Family and Community Background on Men's Economic Status," NBER Working Papers 2896, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Rafael Gomez & Eric Santor, 2001. "Membership has its privileges: the effect of social capital and neighbourhood characteristics on the earnings of microfinance borrowers," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 34(4), pages 943-966, November.
    2. Sabatini, Fabio, 2006. "The Empirics of Social Capital and Economic Development: A Critical Perspective," Knowledge, Technology, Human Capital Working Papers 12097, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    3. Mark Gradstein & Moshe Justman, 2002. "Education, Social Cohesion, and Economic Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 1192-1204, September.
    4. Mori, Tomoya & Turrini, Alessandro, 2005. "Skills, agglomeration and segmentation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 201-225, January.
    5. Mariano Nieto & Nuria González-Álvarez, 2016. "Social capital effects on the discovery and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 507-530, June.
    6. Stephen Knack & Philip Keefer, 1997. "Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1251-1288.
    7. Fabio Sabatini, 2005. "The empirics of social capital and economic development. A critical perspective," Development and Comp Systems 0512015, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Fabio Sabatini, 2005. "The empirics of social capital and economic development: a critical perspective," Development and Comp Systems 0512008, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Giuseppina Guagnano & Elisabetta Santarelli & Isabella Santini, 2016. "Can Social Capital Affect Subjective Poverty in Europe? An Empirical Analysis Based on a Generalized Ordered Logit Model," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(2), pages 881-907, September.
    10. Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Ross Levine, 2009. "Finance and Inequality: Theory and Evidence," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 287-318, November.
    11. Raffaele Paci & Emanuela Marrocu, 2014. "Tourism and regional growth in Europe," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93, pages 25-50, November.
    12. Haddad, Lawrence James & Maluccio, John A., 2002. "Trust, membership in groups, and household welfare," FCND briefs 135, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    13. Elisabet Viladecans Marsal, 2002. "The growth of cities: Does agglomeration matter?," Working Papers 2002/3, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    14. van Staveren, I.P., 2002. "Social capital :What is in it for feminist economics?," ISS Working Papers - General Series 19126, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    15. Elisabet Viladecans Marsal, 2002. "The growth of cities: Does agglomeration matter?," Working Papers 2002/3, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    16. Alesina, Alberto & La Ferrara, Eliana, 2002. "Who trusts others?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 207-234, August.
    17. P. Dorian Owen & R. Quentin Grafton & Tom Kompas, 2004. "Productivity, Factor Accumulation and Social Networks: Theory and Evidence," Econometric Society 2004 Australasian Meetings 224, Econometric Society.
    18. Cuong Le Van & Anh Ngoc Nguyen & Ngoc‐Minh Nguyen & Michel Simioni, 2018. "Growth strategy with social capital, human capital and physical capital—Theory and evidence: The case of Vietnam," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 20(5), pages 768-787, October.
    19. Julie L. Hotchkiss & Anil Rupasingha & Thor Watson, 2022. "In-migration and Dilution of Community Social Capital," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 45(1), pages 36-57, January.
    20. Norman Sedgley & Bruce Elmslie, 2011. "Do We Still Need Cities? Evidence on Rates of Innovation from Count Data Models of Metropolitan Statistical Area Patents," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(1), pages 86-108, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    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:cje:issued:v:34:y:2001:i:4:p:943-966. 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: Prof. Werner Antweiler (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ceaaaea.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.