IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v39y2011i6p922-937.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Microfinance and Home Improvement: Using Retrospective Panel Data to Measure Program Effects on Fundamental Events

Author

Listed:
  • McIntosh, Craig
  • Villaran, Gonzalo
  • Wydick, Bruce

Abstract

Summary Rigorously estimating the effects of development programs is notoriously difficult. We present a methodology that borrows from "event studies" commonly used in the finance literature. In our RETRAFECT methodology, a retrospective panel dataset is created based on "fundamental" events in the history of surveyed households, events that are discrete, unforgettable, and important to welfare. We apply this methodology to examine home improvements among 1,672 households in Guatemala, India, and Ghana. Using village and country/year-level fixed effects, we find the probability of a major housing improvement increases from 0.038 to 0.070 in the years subsequent to a first microfinance loan.

Suggested Citation

  • McIntosh, Craig & Villaran, Gonzalo & Wydick, Bruce, 2011. "Microfinance and Home Improvement: Using Retrospective Panel Data to Measure Program Effects on Fundamental Events," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 922-937, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:39:y:2011:i:6:p:922-937
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X11000544
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

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

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karlan, Dean S. & Zinman, Jonathan, 2009. "Expanding Microenterprise Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts in Manila," Center Discussion Papers 52600, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    2. Ashenfelter, Orley C, 1978. "Estimating the Effect of Training Programs on Earnings," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 60(1), pages 47-57, February.
    3. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo, 2014. "Do Firms Want to Borrow More? Testing Credit Constraints Using a Directed Lending Program," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(2), pages 572-607.
    4. Karlan, Dean & Zinman, Jonathan, 2009. "Expanding Microenterprise Credit Access: Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts in Manila," Working Papers 68, Yale University, Department of Economics.
    5. repec:pri:rpdevs:morduch_microfinance_poor is not listed on IDEAS
    6. 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.
    7. Wydick, Bruce, 1999. "The Effect of Microenterprise Lending on Child Schooling in Guatemala," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(4), pages 853-869, July.
    8. Gary Chamberlain, 1980. "Analysis of Covariance with Qualitative Data," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 47(1), pages 225-238.
    9. Coleman, Brett E., 1999. "The impact of group lending in Northeast Thailand," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 105-141, October.
    10. Jonathan Morduch, 1998. "Does Microfinance Really Help the Poor? New Evidence from Flagship Programs in Bangladesh," Working Papers 198, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    11. 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.
    12. A. Craig MacKinlay, 1997. "Event Studies in Economics and Finance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 13-39, March.
    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. 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.
    2. Maren Duvendack & Richard Palmer-Jones, 2012. "High Noon for Microfinance Impact Evaluations: Re-investigating the Evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(12), pages 1864-1880, December.
    3. Joseph P. Kaboski & Robert M. Townsend, 2011. "A Structural Evaluation of a Large‐Scale Quasi‐Experimental Microfinance Initiative," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(5), pages 1357-1406, September.
    4. Pablo Cotler & Christopher Woodruff, 2008. "The Impact of Short-Term Credit on Microenterprises: Evidence from the Fincomun-Bimbo Program in Mexico," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(4), pages 829-849, July.
    5. 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.
    6. Hammler, Katharina, 2011. "Mikrokredite: Eine kritische empirische Bestandsaufnahme," Briefing Papers 6, Austrian Foundation for Development Research (ÖFSE).
    7. Sefa K. Awaworyi, 2014. "The Impact of Microfinance Interventions: A Meta-analysis," Monash Economics Working Papers 03-14, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    8. Orso, Cristina, 2011. "Microcredit and poverty. An overview of the principal statistical methods used to measure the program net impacts," POLIS Working Papers 154, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
    9. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Patrick Honohan, 2009. "Access to Financial Services: Measurement, Impact, and Policies," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 24(1), pages 119-145, February.
    10. Jun Goto, 2013. "The Impacts of Self-Help Group Programs: Experimental and Survey Evidence from South India," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(4), pages 2874-2889.
    11. Zinman, Jonathan, 2010. "Restricting consumer credit access: Household survey evidence on effects around the Oregon rate cap," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 546-556, March.
    12. 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.
    13. Bujar Ahmedi & Besian Ahmeti, 2018. "Private Armies in Contemporary International Politics," European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies Articles, Revistia Research and Publishing, vol. 3, ejms_v3_i.
    14. 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.
    15. Hermes, Niels & Lensink, Robert, 2011. "Microfinance: Its Impact, Outreach, and Sustainability," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 875-881, June.
    16. Duvendack, Maren, 2010. "Smoke and Mirrors: Evidence of Microfinance Impact from an Evaluation of SEWA Bank in India," MPRA Paper 24511, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Richard Disney & Eleonora Fischera & Trudy Owens, 2010. "Has the Introduction of Microfinance Crowded-out Informal Loans in Malawi?," Discussion Papers 10/08, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    18. Rajbanshi, Ram & Huang, Meng & Wydick, Bruce, 2015. "Measuring Microfinance: Assessing the Conflict between Practitioners and Researchers with Evidence from Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 30-47.
    19. 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.
    20. Beck, T.H.L., 2011. "The Role of Finance in Economic Development : Benefits, Risks, and Politics," Discussion Paper 2011-141, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.

    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:eee:wdevel:v:39:y:2011:i:6:p:922-937. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    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.