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Do Village Funds Improve Access to Finance? Evidence from Thailand

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  • Menkhoff, Lukas
  • Rungruxsirivorn, Ornsiri

Abstract

Summary This paper examines whether recently introduced "village funds," one of the largest microfinance programs ever implemented, improve access to finance. Village funds are analyzed in a cross-sectional approach in comparison to competing financial institutions. We find, first, that they reach the target group of lower income households better than formal financial institutions. Second, village funds provide loans to those kinds of borrowers who tend to be customers of informal financial institutions. Third, village funds help to reduce credit constraints. Thus, village funds provide services in the intended direction, albeit to a seemingly limited degree.

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  • Menkhoff, Lukas & Rungruxsirivorn, Ornsiri, 2011. "Do Village Funds Improve Access to Finance? Evidence from Thailand," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 110-122, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:39:y:2011:i:1:p:110-122
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    4. Hemtanon, Wittawat & Gan, Christopher, 2022. "Sustainability of Microfinance Institutions in Thailand," Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), vol. 19(1), June.
    5. Janti Gunawan & Kym Fraser, 2016. "Exploring young and green entrepreneurship in Indonesia: An introduction," Journal of Asian Business Strategy, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 6(9), pages 185-194, September.
    6. Boonperm, Jirawan & Haughton, Jonathan & Khandker, Shahidur R., 2013. "Does the Village Fund matter in Thailand? Evaluating the impact on incomes and spending," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 3-16.
    7. Islam, Asadul & Nguyen, Chau & Smyth, Russell, 2015. "Does microfinance change informal lending in village economies? Evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 141-156.
    8. Hoffmann, Vivian & Rao, Vijayendra & Surendra, Vaishnavi & Datta, Upamanyu, 2021. "Relief from usury: Impact of a self-help group lending program in rural India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
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    10. Rasmus Heltberg & Naomi Hossain & Anna Reva, 2012. "Living through Crises : How the Food, Fuel, and Financial Shocks Affect the Poor," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6013, December.
    11. Cherry Wyle G. Layaoen & Kazushi Takahashi, 2022. "Can microfinance lending crowd out informal lenders? Evidence from the Philippines," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(2), pages 379-414, March.
    12. Fan Wang, 2022. "An Empirical Equilibrium Model of Formal and Informal Credit Markets in Developing Countries," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 46, pages 224-243, October.
    13. Jonathan Haughton & Shahidur R. Khandker & Pungpond Rukumnuaykit, 2014. "Microcredit on a Large Scale: Appraising the Thailand Village Fund," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 28(4), pages 363-388, December.
    14. Wittawat Hemtanon & Christopher Gan, 2020. "Microfinance Participation in Thailand," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-27, June.
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    16. Le Phuong Xuan Dang & Viet-Ngu Hoang & Son Hong Nghiem & Clevo Wilson, 2023. "Social capital and informal credit access: empirical evidence from a Vietnamese household panel survey," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(1), pages 311-340, July.
    17. Dumisani Chirambo, 2017. "Enhancing Climate Change Resilience Through Microfinance: Redefining the Climate Finance Paradigm to Promote Inclusive Growth in Africa," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 33(1), pages 150-173, March.
    18. Chichaibelu, Bezawit Beyene & Waibel, Hermann, 2017. "Borrowing from “Pui” to Pay “Pom”: Multiple Borrowing and Over-Indebtedness in Rural Thailand," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 338-350.
    19. Ngo, Thanh Quang & Luu, Khai Duc & Nguyen, Danh Ngọc & Bui, Thanh Xuan & Van, Sang Nguyen & Nguyen, Ky Tran, 2022. "Effects of Land Quality on Land Use: Farm-level Panel-data Evidence from Viet Nam," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 14(4), December.
    20. Chichaibelu, Bezawit Beyene & Waibel, Hermann, 2018. "Over-indebtedness and its persistence in rural households in Thailand and Vietnam," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-23.

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