IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ctc/serie2/dises1396.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Microcredit and women's empowerment in Bangladesh: a structural equation model for categorical observed variables

Author

Listed:
  • Cristina Elisa Orso

    (Dipartimento di Economia, Università Ca' Foscari)

  • Enrico Fabrizi

    (DISCE, Università Cattolica)

Abstract

This paper employs the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (2004) to explore the relationship between participation in microcredit programs and women's empowerment using a structural equation model with categorical observed variables. A MCMC-based Bayesian approach is adopted for estimation. Along with participation in microcredit, we consider a variety of socio-cultural aspects as potential predictors of empowerment in the Bangladeshi context including men's perceptions about women's status. We conclude that gender community norms are strongly rooted in women's minds regardless of the partners' perceptions of women's status, and microcredit interventions may actually contribute to change gender beliefs and social attitudes.

Suggested Citation

  • Cristina Elisa Orso & Enrico Fabrizi, 2013. "Microcredit and women's empowerment in Bangladesh: a structural equation model for categorical observed variables," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali dises1396, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    • Handle: RePEc:ctc:serie2:dises1396
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.unicatt.it/dipartimenti/DISES/allegati/dises1396.pdf
    File Function: First version, aaaa
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sarah Mosedale, 2005. "Assessing women's empowerment: towards a conceptual framework," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(2), pages 243-257.
    2. Alberto Chong & Eliana La Ferrara, 2009. "Television and Divorce: Evidence from Brazilian Novelas," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(2-3), pages 458-468, 04-05.
    3. Kalpana Bardhan & Stephan Klasen, 2000. "On UNDP's Revisions to the Gender-Related Development Index," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 191-195.
    4. World Bank, 2008. "Poverty Assessment for Bangladesh," World Bank Publications - Reports 28239, The World Bank Group.
    5. 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.
    6. Beatriz Armendáriz & Jonathan Morduch, 2010. "The Economics of Microfinance, Second Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262014106, December.
    7. Crespi, Catherine M. & Boscardin, W. John, 2009. "Bayesian model checking for multivariate outcome data," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 53(11), pages 3765-3772, September.
    8. Karen Mason & Herbert Smith, 2000. "Husbands’ versus wives’ fertility goals and use of contraception: The influence of gender context in five Asian countries," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 37(3), pages 299-311, August.
    9. Ranjula Bali Swain & Fan Yang Wallentin, 2009. "Does microfinance empower women? Evidence from self-help groups in India," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(5), pages 541-556.
    10. Henry Kaiser, 1958. "The varimax criterion for analytic rotation in factor analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 23(3), pages 187-200, September.
    11. Alberto Chong & Eliana La Ferrara, 2009. "Television and Divorce: Evidence from Brazilian Novelas," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(2-3), pages 458-468, 04-05.
    12. Paul Mosley & Linda Mayoux, 1999. "Questioning virtuous spirals: micro-finance and women's empowerment in Africa," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(7), pages 957-984.
    13. Goetz, Anne Marie & Gupta, Rina Sen, 1996. "Who takes the credit? Gender, power, and control over loan use in rural credit programs in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 45-63, January.
    14. Hanny Cueva Beteta, 2006. "What is missing in measures of Women's Empowerment?," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 221-241.
    15. Fiona Steele & Sajeda Amin & Ruchira Naved, 2001. "Savings/credit group formation and change in contraception," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(2), pages 267-282, May.
    16. Kabeer, Naila, 2001. "Conflicts Over Credit: Re-Evaluating the Empowerment Potential of Loans to Women in Rural Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 63-84, January.
    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. Chin, Yoo-Mi, 2012. "Credit Program Participation and Decline in Violence: Does Self-Selection Matter?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(8), pages 1690-1699.
    2. B, Ranjula & Wallentin, Fan Yang, 2008. "Economic or Non-Economic Factors – What Empowers Women?," Working Paper Series 2008:11, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    3. Prof dr Erik Stam & Felix Meier zu Selhausen, MSc MA, 2014. "Husbands and Wives. The powers and perils of participation in a microfinance cooperative for female entrepreneurs," Working Papers 2014/20, Maastricht School of Management.
    4. Meier zu Selhausen, Felix, 2016. "Women's empowerment in Uganda: colonial roots and contemporary efforts, 1894-2012," Economics PhD Theses 0715, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    5. 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.
    6. Simon Zaby, 2019. "Science Mapping of the Global Knowledge Base on Microfinance: Influential Authors and Documents, 1989–2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-21, July.
    7. Weber, Olaf & Ahmad, Adnan, 2014. "Empowerment Through Microfinance: The Relation Between Loan Cycle and Level of Empowerment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 75-87.
    8. Ashish Bajracharya & Sajeda Amin, 2013. "Microcredit and Domestic Violence in Bangladesh: An Exploration of Selection Bias Influences," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(5), pages 1819-1843, October.
    9. João Paulo Coelho Ribeiro & Fábio Duarte & Ana Paula Matias Gama, 2022. "Does microfinance foster the development of its clients? A bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-35, December.
    10. Ragui Assaad & Hanan Nazier & Rasha Ramadan, 2015. "Empowerment is a Community Affair: Community Level Determinants of Married Women's Empowerment in Egypt," Working Papers 959, Economic Research Forum, revised Oct 2015.
    11. Kausar Yasmeen & Mohd Zaini Abd Karim, 2014. "Impact of Interaction Term between Education and Loan Size on Women’s Decision Making," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation, Macrothink Institute, Journal of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation, vol. 1(1), pages 123-141, June.
    12. Donatien Eze Eze, 2019. "Microfinance programs and domestic violence in northern Cameroon; the case of the Familial Rural Income Improvement Program," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 947-967, September.
    13. Touseef Ahmed Khan & Fahem Ahmed Khan & Qristin Violinda & Ilyas Aasir & Sun Jian, 2020. "Microfinance Facility for Rural Women Entrepreneurs in Pakistan: An Empirical Analysis," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-17, February.
    14. Namizata Binaté Fofana & Gerrit Antonides & Anke Niehof & Johan Ophem, 2015. "How microfinance empowers women in Côte d’Ivoire," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 1023-1041, December.
    15. Garikipati, Supriya, 2008. "The Impact of Lending to Women on Household Vulnerability and Women's Empowerment: Evidence from India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 2620-2642, December.
    16. Shivangi Bhatia & Seema Singh, 2019. "Empowering Women Through Financial Inclusion: A Study of Urban Slum," Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, , vol. 44(4), pages 182-197, December.
    17. Asadul Islam & Debayan Pakrashi, 2014. "The Microcredit Puzzle: Labour Supply Behaviour of Rural Households in Bangladesh," Monash Economics Working Papers 24-14, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    18. Helen M. Haugh & Alka Talwar, 2016. "Linking Social Entrepreneurship and Social Change: The Mediating Role of Empowerment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 643-658, February.
    19. Bhuiyan, Muhammad Faress & Ivlevs, Artjoms, 2019. "Micro-entrepreneurship and subjective well-being: Evidence from rural Bangladesh," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 625-645.
    20. Berg Claudia & Emran M. Shahe, 2020. "Microfinance and Vulnerability to Seasonal Famine in a Rural Economy: Evidence from Monga in Bangladesh," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(3), pages 1-36, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Microcredit programs; Women's empowerment; Gender relations; Asia; Bangladesh; Bayesian approach.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ctc:serie2:dises1396. 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: Francesco Timpano (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dscatit.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.