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Interest-Free Loans between Villagers

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  • Loren Brandt
  • Arthur J. Hosios

Abstract

Interest-free loans are a common feature of low-income rural economies. In much of the economics literature, lending at zero and positive interest are viewed as being highly segmented in the community, with interest-free loans an essential component of long-term mutual consumption agreements between households. An alternative interpretation is that zero-interest loans are a credit contract that, in lieu of interest, includes an option allowing the lender to tax the borrower at a future date. This option can take a variety of forms, including the provision of labor or draft animal services or possibly a future loan. In this paper, we develop and test a model of household contract choice between zero- and positive-interest rate loans that builds on this alternative perspective. It highlights the role of borrower and lender attributes and the economic environment in which they interact in determining contract choice. Enforcement considerations are secondary. We use a unique household-level data set for rural China for the mid-1930s to examine key predictions of the model. (c) 2010 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.

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  • Loren Brandt & Arthur J. Hosios, 2010. "Interest-Free Loans between Villagers," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(2), pages 345-372, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:ecdecc:v:58:y:2010:i:2:p:345-372
    DOI: 10.1086/648184
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ethan Ligon & Jonathan P. Thomas & Tim Worrall, 2002. "Informal Insurance Arrangements with Limited Commitment: Theory and Evidence from Village Economies," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 69(1), pages 209-244.
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    Cited by:

    1. Yuan, Yan & Xu, Lihe, 2015. "Are poor able to access the informal credit market? Evidence from rural households in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 232-246.
    2. Loren Brandt & Debin Ma & Thomas G. Rawski, 2014. "From Divergence to Convergence: Reevaluating the History behind China's Economic Boom," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(1), pages 45-123, March.
    3. Cull, Robert & Gine, Xavier & Harten, Sven & Heitmann, Soren & Rusu, Anca Bogdana, 2018. "Agent banking in a highly under-developed financial sector: Evidence from Democratic Republic of Congo," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 54-74.
    4. Badiea Shaukat & Qigui Zhu, 2021. "Finance and growth: Particular role of Zakat to levitate development in transition economies," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 998-1017, January.
    5. Cull, Robert & Gan, Li & Gao, Nan & Xu, Lixin Colin, 2022. "Social capital, finance, and consumption: Evidence from a representative sample of Chinese households," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    6. Mallick, Debdulal, 2009. "How effective is a Big Push to the Small? Evidence from a Quasi-random Experiment," MPRA Paper 22824, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Dezső, Linda & Loewenstein, George, 2012. "Lenders’ blind trust and borrowers’ blind spots: A descriptive investigation of personal loans," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 996-1011.

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