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Credit for What?: Informal Credit as a Coping Strategy of Market Women in Northern Ghana

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  • Kati Schindler

Abstract

This paper explores the use of informal credit as a strategy for managing risks by market women in northern Ghana. A broad concept of the costs of risk management strategies is introduced and encompasses both a time and monetary dimension. Based on qualitative data, the analysis reveals that market women invest a considerable amount of time in maintaining complex networks of informal credit providers to insure their access to credit once a shock occurs. Informal credit involves high transaction costs and prevents market women from growing out of poverty in the long term.

Suggested Citation

  • Kati Schindler, 2007. "Credit for What?: Informal Credit as a Coping Strategy of Market Women in Northern Ghana," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 715, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp715
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    Cited by:

    1. Simba, Amon & Martins Ogundana, Oyedele & Braune, Eric & Dana, Léo–Paul, 2023. "Community financing in entrepreneurship: A focus on women entrepreneurs in the developing world," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    2. Scheiterle, Lilli & Birner, Regina, 2021. "The Myth of the Market Queens: a Case Study of Women and Power in Ghanaian Markets," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315924, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Jones, Kelly & Gong, Erick, 2021. "Precautionary savings and shock-coping behaviors: Effects of promoting mobile bank savings on transactional sex in Kenya," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    4. 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).
    5. Ganle, John Kuumuori & Afriyie, Kwadwo & Segbefia, Alexander Yao, 2015. "Microcredit: Empowerment and Disempowerment of Rural Women in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 335-345.
    6. Kwadwo Afriyie & John Kuumuori Ganle & Alexander Yao Segbefia & Pauline Kamau & Grace Wamue-Ngare, 2020. "Contextual Factors Which Affect the Success of Microcredit Programs Among Women in Ghana," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 36(2), pages 229-254, June.
    7. James Heintz & Lynda Pickbourn, 2012. "The Determinants of Selection into Non-agricultural Self-employment in Ghana," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 6(2), pages 181-209, May.
    8. Schicks, Jessica, 2014. "Over-Indebtedness in Microfinance – An Empirical Analysis of Related Factors on the Borrower Level," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 301-324.
    9. Godfred Boateng & Vincent Kuuire & Mengieng Ung & Jonathan Amoyaw & Frederick Armah & Isaac Luginaah, 2014. "Women’s Empowerment in the Context of Millennium Development Goal 3: A Case Study of Married Women in Ghana," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 115(1), pages 137-158, January.
    10. Ha van Dung, 2014. "Short-term precaution, insurance and saving mechanisms in rural Vietnam," Working Papers CIE 82, Paderborn University, CIE Center for International Economics.
    11. Haruna Abdallah Imam & Hardy Tamimu r, 2015. "'Life beyond the Walls of my Hometown': Social Safety Networks as a Coping Strategy for Northern Migrants in Accra," Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Management Studies, Asian Online Journal Publishing Group, vol. 2(1), pages 25-43.
    12. Mirko Bendig & Lena Giesbert & Susan Steiner, 2009. "Savings, Credit, and Insurance: Household Demand for Formal Financial Services in Rural Ghana," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 7609, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    13. Ahmed Tufeiru, 2014. "The Nexus of Female Capital and North–South Labor Migration in Ghana," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 30(1), pages 91-114, March.
    14. Natéwindé Sawadogo & Youmanli Ouoba, 2023. "COVID-19, food coping strategies and households resilience: the case of informal sector in Burkina Faso," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(4), pages 1041-1056, August.
    15. Linh D. Nguyen & Thanh T. Nguyen & Tung T. Nguyen & Ulrike Grote, 2025. "Health shock and indebtedness: Does having access to health insurance reduce the reliance on borrowing as a shock coping strategy?," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(2), pages 823-862, May.
    16. Evans Sumabe Batung & Kamaldeen Mohammed & Moses Mosonsieyiri Kansanga & Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong & Isaac Luginaah, 2023. "Credit access and perceived climate change resilience of smallholder farmers in semi-arid northern Ghana," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 321-350, January.
    17. Salia, Samuel & Hussain, Javed & Tingbani, Ishmael & Kolade, Oluwaseun, 2017. "Is women empowerment a zero Sum game? Unintended Consequences of microfinance for Women’s empowerment in Ghana," MPRA Paper 82895, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 23 Aug 2017.
    18. World Bank, 2011. "Tackling Poverty in Northern Ghana," World Bank Publications - Reports 2755, The World Bank Group.
    19. Windinkonté Séogo, 2022. "Preventing households from food insecurity in rural Burkina Faso: Does nonfarm income matter?," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(4), pages 1032-1047, October.
    20. Tilman Brück & Kati Schindler, 2008. "The Impact of Conflict and Fragility on Households: A Conceptual Framework with Reference to Widows," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2008-83, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation

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