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Asset pooling, credit rationing, and growth

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  • Andreas Lehnert

Abstract

I study the effect of improved financial intermediation on the process of capital accumulation by augmenting a standard model with a general contract space. With the extra contracts, intermediaries endogenously begin using ROSCAs, or Rotating Savings and Credit Associations. These contracts allow poor agents, previously credit rationed, access to credit. As a result, agents work harder and total economy-wide output increases; however, these gains come at the cost of increased inequality. I provide sufficient conditions for the allocations to be Pareto optimal, and for there to be a unique invariant distribution of wealth. I provide an analytic characterization of a simple model and use numerical techniques to study more general models.

Suggested Citation

  • Andreas Lehnert, 1998. "Asset pooling, credit rationing, and growth," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1998-52, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:1998-52
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    3. Besley, Timothy & Coate, Stephen & Loury, Glenn, 1993. "The Economics of Rotating Savings and Credit Associations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(4), pages 792-810, September.
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    7. Philippe Aghion & Patrick Bolton, 1997. "A Theory of Trickle-Down Growth and Development," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 64(2), pages 151-172.
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    9. Prescott, Edward C & Townsend, Robert M, 1984. "Pareto Optima and Competitive Equilibria with Adverse Selection and Moral Hazard," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(1), pages 21-45, January.
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    11. Timothy Besley & Stephen Coate & Glenn Loury, 1994. "Rotating Savings and Credit Associations, Credit Markets and Efficiency," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 61(4), pages 701-719.
    12. Lehnert, Andreas & Ligon, Ethan & Townsend, Robert M., 1999. "Liquidity Constraints And Incentive Contracts," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(01), pages 1-47, March.
    13. Sappington, David, 1983. "Limited liability contracts between principal and agent," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-21, February.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Anna L. Paulson & Robert M. Townsend, 2003. "Distinguishing limited commitment from moral hazard in models of growth with inequality," Working Paper Series WP-03-06, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    2. Alexander Karaivanov, 2003. "Financial Contracts and Occupational Choice," Computing in Economics and Finance 2003 25, Society for Computational Economics.
    3. William D. Dupor & Andreas Lehnert, 2002. "Increasing returns and optimal oscillating labor supply," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2002-22, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    4. João Pedro W. de Azevedo, 2004. "Entrepreneurship And Liquidity Constraints In Deprived Areas: Evidence From The Slums Of Rio De Janeiro," Anais do XXXII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 32th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 135, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pósgraduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    5. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:4:y:2005:i:11:p:1-6 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Alexander Karaivanov, 2002. "Computing Moral Hazard Programs With Lotteries Using Matlab," Computational Economics 0201001, EconWPA.
    7. Gwenael Piaser, 2005. "Stochastic and deterministic menus in common agency games," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 4(11), pages 1-6.
    8. Gine, Xavier & Townsend, Robert M., 2004. "Evaluation of financial liberalization: a general equilibrium model with constrained occupation choice," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 269-307, August.
    9. Paul Huck & Sherrie L. W. Rhine & Philip Bond & Robert M. Townsend, 1999. "Small business finance in two Chicago minority neighborhoods," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue Q II, pages 46-62.
    10. Prescott, Edward Simpson, 2004. "Computing solutions to moral-hazard programs using the Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition algorithm," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 777-800, January.
    11. Michael A. Sadler, 2000. "Escaping Poverty: Risk-Taking and Endogenous Inequality in a Model of Equilibrium Growth," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 3(4), pages 704-725, October.
    12. Edward Simpson Prescott, 1999. "A primer on moral-hazard models," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, issue Win, pages 47-78.

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    Keywords

    Financial markets ; Credit;

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