IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/revfin/v20y2016i3p907-946..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Microfinance Banks and Financial Inclusion

Author

Listed:
  • Martin Brown
  • Benjamin Guin
  • Karolin Kirschenmann

Abstract

We examine how the geographical proximity to a microfinance bank affects financial inclusion. We study the expansion of the branch network of ProCredit banks in South-East Europe between 2006 and 2010. We report three main findings: First, ProCredit is more likely to open a new branch in areas with a large share of low-income households. Second, in locations where ProCredit opens a new branch the share of banked households increases more than in locations where it does not open a new branch. Third, this increase is particularly strong among low-income households, older households, and households which rely on transfer income.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Brown & Benjamin Guin & Karolin Kirschenmann, 2016. "Microfinance Banks and Financial Inclusion," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 20(3), pages 907-946.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:revfin:v:20:y:2016:i:3:p:907-946.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rof/rfv026
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    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. Beck, Thorsten & Cull, Robert & Fuchs, Michael & Getenga, Jared & Gatere, Peter & Randa, John & Trandafir, Mircea, 2010. "Banking sector stability, efficiency, and outreach in Kenya," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5442, The World Bank.
    2. Brown, Martin & Guin, Benjamin & Kirschenmann, Karolin, 2012. "Microfinance Commercialization and Mission Drift," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 66(4), pages 340-357.
    3. Brune, Lasse & Gine, Xavier & Goldberg, Jessica & Yang, Dean, 2011. "Commitments to save : a field experiment in rural Malawi," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5748, The World Bank.
    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. Franklin Allen & Elena Carletti & Robert Cull & Jun QJ Qian & Lemma Senbet & Patricio Valenzuela, 2021. "Improving Access to Banking: Evidence from Kenya [A matter of experience? Understanding the decline in group lending]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 403-447.
    2. Thorsten Beck & Martin Brown, 2011. "Which Households Use Banks? Evidence from the Transition Economies," Working Papers 2011-01, Swiss National Bank.
    3. Saugato Datta & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2014. "Behavioral Design: A New Approach to Development Policy," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(1), pages 7-35, March.
    4. Thorsten Beck & Robert Cull, 2013. "Banking in Africa," CSAE Working Paper Series 2013-16, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    5. Legovini, Arianna & Di Maro, Vincenzo & Piza, Caio, 2015. "Impact evaluation helps deliver development projects," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7157, The World Bank.
    6. Anandi Mani & Sendhil Mullainathan & Eldar Shafir & Jiaying Zhao, 2020. "Scarcity and Cognitive Function around Payday: A Conceptual and Empirical Analysis," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(4), pages 365-376.
    7. Brigitte C. Madrian, 2012. "Matching Contributions and Savings Outcomes: A Behavioral Economics Perspective," NBER Working Papers 18220, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Brown, Martin & Guin, Benjamin & Kirschenmann, Karolin, 2013. "Microfinance Banks and Household Access to Finance," Working Papers on Finance 1302, University of St. Gallen, School of Finance.
    9. Dan Ma & Wenchun Wang, 2023. "Mandatory inclusive finance policy and small banks' operating performance: Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(4), pages 4761-4777, December.
    10. Makmun Syadullah & Benny Gunawan Adriansyah & Tri Wibowo, 2019. "Impact of Economic and Non-Economic Factors on Income Inequality in ASEAN Countries," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 9(12), pages 1346-1357, December.
    11. Saugato Datta & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2014. "Behavioral Design: A New Approach to Development Policy," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(1), pages 7-35, March.
    12. Mr. Alexander Massara & André Mialou, 2014. "Assessing Countries’ Financial Inclusion Standing - A New Composite Index," IMF Working Papers 2014/036, International Monetary Fund.
    13. Jesse Atkinson & Alain de Janvry & Craig McIntosh & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2013. "Prompting Microfinance Borrowers to Save: A Field Experiment from Guatemala," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62(1), pages 21-64.
    14. Dalla Pellegrina, Lucia & De Michele, Angela & Di Maio, Giorgio & Landoni, Paolo, 2021. "Fostering savings by commitment: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment at The Small Enterprise Foundation in South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    15. Xavier Giné & Jessica Goldberg & Dan Silverman & Dean Yang, 2018. "Revising Commitments: Field Evidence on the Adjustment of Prior Choices," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(608), pages 159-188, February.
    16. Jacob Oduor & Moses Muse Sichei & Samuel Kiplangat Tiriongo & Chris Shimba, 2014. "Working Paper 202 - Segmentation and efficiency of the interbank market and their implication for the conduct of monetary policy," Working Paper Series 2106, African Development Bank.
    17. Cyn-Young Park & Rogelio Mercado Jr., 2018. "Financial Inclusion: New Measurement and Cross-Country Impact Assessment," Working Papers wp29, South East Asian Central Banks (SEACEN) Research and Training Centre.
    18. Laajaj, Rachid, 2012. "Closing the Eyes on a Gloomy Future: Psychological Causes and Economic Consequences," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 123933, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    19. Ichraf Ouechtati, 2020. "The Contribution of Financial Inclusion in Reducing Poverty and Income Inequality in Developing Countries," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 10(9), pages 1051-1061, September.
    20. Ubfal, Diego, 2016. "How general are time preferences? Eliciting good-specific discount rates," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 150-170.

    More about this item

    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:oup:revfin:v:20:y:2016:i:3:p:907-946.. 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: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eufaaea.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.