IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/rwirep/878.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Improving housing conditions: Labelled loans in Kenya and Uganda

Author

Listed:
  • Choda, Amreen
  • Schoofs, Annekathrin
  • Verrinder, Noel

Abstract

We evaluate a non-governmental housing microfinance intervention that attempts to improve housing conditions for low income populations by simultaneously offering them a labelled loan and non-financial technical support. Using household survey data from Kenya and Uganda, we first show evidence for the successful targeting of our labelled loans because 95% of clients used the loan for the intended housing improvement. Second, our results suggest that access to small, short-term loans enables households to invest in housing upgrades that can significantly improve both the characteristics of their dwelling and their satisfaction with their dwelling. These effects are robust to four different estimation approaches (difference-in-differences, inverse probability weighting, matching, and ordinary least squares with postdouble selection Lasso).

Suggested Citation

  • Choda, Amreen & Schoofs, Annekathrin & Verrinder, Noel, 2020. "Improving housing conditions: Labelled loans in Kenya and Uganda," Ruhr Economic Papers 878, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:rwirep:878
    DOI: 10.4419/96973017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/227482/1/174249191X.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4419/96973017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gunther Bensch & Jochen Kluve & Jörg Peters, 2011. "Impacts of rural electrification in Rwanda," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(4), pages 567-588, December.
    2. Thomson, H. & Thomas, S. & Sellstrom, E. & Petticrew, M., 2009. "The health impacts of housing improvement: a systematic review of intervention studies from 1887 to 2007," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99, pages 681-692.
    3. Galiani, Sebastián & Gertler, Paul J. & Undurraga, Raimundo & Cooper, Ryan & Martínez, Sebastián & Ross, Adam, 2017. "Shelter from the storm: Upgrading housing infrastructure in Latin American slums," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 187-213.
    4. Richard H. Thaler, 2008. "Mental Accounting and Consumer Choice," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 15-25, 01-02.
    5. Alexandre Belloni & Victor Chernozhukov & Christian Hansen, 2014. "Inference on Treatment Effects after Selection among High-Dimensional Controlsâ€," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(2), pages 608-650.
    6. Ben Yishay, Ariel & Fraker, Andrew & Guiteras, Raymond & Palloni, Giordano & Shah, Neil Buddy & Shirrell, Stuart & Wang, Paul, 2017. "Microcredit and willingness to pay for environmental quality: Evidence from a randomized-controlled trial of finance for sanitation in rural Cambodia," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 121-140.
    7. Michée A. Lachaud & Boris E. Bravo-Ureta & Nathan Fiala & Susana P. Gonzalez, 2018. "The impact of agri-business skills training in Zimbabwe: an evaluation of the Training for Rural Economic Empowerment (TREE) programme," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 373-391, July.
    8. Augsburg,Britta & Caeyers,Bet & Giunti,Sara & Malde,Bansi Khimji & Smets,Susanna, 2019. "Labelled Loans, Credit Constraints and Sanitation Investments," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8845, The World Bank.
    9. Khandker, Shahidur R. & Barnes, Douglas F. & Samad, Hussain A., 2009. "Welfare impacts of rural electrification : a case study from Bangladesh," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4859, The World Bank.
    10. Guido W. Imbens, 2015. "Matching Methods in Practice: Three Examples," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(2), pages 373-419.
    11. Matias D. Cattaneo & Sebastian Galiani & Paul J. Gertler & Sebastian Martinez & Rocio Titiunik, 2009. "Housing, Health, and Happiness," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 75-105, February.
    12. Dahal, Mahesh & Fiala, Nathan, 2020. "What do we know about the impact of microfinance? The problems of statistical power and precision," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    13. Galiani, Sebastian & Schargrodsky, Ernesto, 2010. "Property rights for the poor: Effects of land titling," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(9-10), pages 700-729, October.
    14. Barron, Manuel & Torero, Maximo, 2014. "Electrification and Time Allocation:Experimental Evidence from Northern El Salvador," MPRA Paper 63782, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Sharon Barnhardt & Erica Field & Rohini Pande, 2017. "Moving to Opportunity or Isolation? Network Effects of a Randomized Housing Lottery in Urban India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 1-32, January.
    16. Bruce Wydick, 2016. "Microfinance on the margin: why recent impact studies may understate average treatment effects," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 257-265, June.
    17. Esther Duflo & Michael Greenstone & Raymond Guiteras & Thomas Clasen, 2015. "Toilets Can Work: Short and Medium Run Health Impacts of Addressing Complementarities and Externalities in Water and Sanitation," NBER Working Papers 21521, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    19. Florencia Devoto & Esther Duflo & Pascaline Dupas & William Parienté & Vincent Pons, 2012. "Happiness on Tap: Piped Water Adoption in Urban Morocco," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 68-99, November.
    20. Erica Field, 2007. "Entitled to Work: Urban Property Rights and Labor Supply in Peru," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(4), pages 1561-1602.
    21. Felipe Dizon & Erick Gong & Kelly Jones, 2020. "The Effect of Promoting Savings on Informal Risk Sharing: Experimental Evidence from Vulnerable Women in Kenya," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 55(3), pages 963-998.
    22. Lipscomb, Molly & Schechter, Laura, 2018. "Subsidies versus mental accounting nudges: Harnessing mobile payment systems to improve sanitation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 235-254.
    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. Galiani, Sebastián & Gertler, Paul J. & Undurraga, Raimundo & Cooper, Ryan & Martínez, Sebastián & Ross, Adam, 2017. "Shelter from the storm: Upgrading housing infrastructure in Latin American slums," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 187-213.
    2. Franklin, Simon, 2020. "Enabled to work: The impact of government housing on slum dwellers in South Africa," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    3. Laura Jaitman, 2015. "Urban infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean: public policy priorities," Latin American Economic Review, Springer;Centro de Investigaciòn y Docencia Económica (CIDE), vol. 24(1), pages 1-57, December.
    4. Ann Mitchell & Jimena Macció & Diego Mariño Fages, 2019. "The Effects of Emergency Housing on Wellbeing: Evidence from Argentina’s Informal Settlements," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(3), pages 504-529, July.
    5. Augsburg,Britta & Caeyers,Bet & Malde,Bansi Khimji, 2019. "Can Micro-Credit Support Public Health Subsidy Programs ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8846, The World Bank.
    6. Sandrine Mesplé-Somps & Laure Pasquier-Doumer & Charlotte Guénard, 2016. "Quel impact des projets de réhabilitation urbaine sur les conditions de vie ? Le cas d’un bidonville à Djibouti," Working Papers 20160002, UMR Développement et Sociétés, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement.
    7. Picarelli, Nathalie, 2019. "There Is No Free House," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 35-52.
    8. Manea, Roxana Elena & Piraino, Patrizio & Viarengo, Martina, 2023. "Crime, inequality and subsidized housing: Evidence from South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    9. Augsburg, Britta & Caeyers, Bet & Giunti, Sara & Malde, Bansi & Smets, Susanna, 2023. "Labeled loans and human capital investments," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    10. Ann Mitchell and Jimena Macció, 2018. "Evaluating the Effects of Housing Interventions on Multidimensional Poverty: The Case of TECHO-Argentina," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp120.pdf, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    11. Galiani, Sebastián & Gertler, Paul J. & Undurraga, Raimundo & Cooper, Ryan & Martínez, Sebastián & Ross, Adam, 2017. "Shelter from the storm: Upgrading housing infrastructure in Latin American slums," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 187-213.
    12. Augsburg,Britta & Caeyers,Bet & Giunti,Sara & Malde,Bansi Khimji & Smets,Susanna, 2019. "Labelled Loans, Credit Constraints and Sanitation Investments," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8845, The World Bank.
    13. Sonia R. Bhalotra & Alberto Diaz-Cayeros & Grant Miller & Alfonso Miranda & Atheendar S. Venkataramani, 2017. "Urban Water Disinfection and Mortality Decline in Developing Countries," NBER Working Papers 23239, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Augsburg, Britta & Bancalari, Antonella & Durrani, Zara & Vaidyanathan, Madhav & White, Zach, 2022. "When nature calls back: Sustaining behavioral change in rural Pakistan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    15. Hossain, Md Amzad & Mahajan, Kanika & Sekhri, Sheetal, 2022. "Access to toilets and violence against women," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    16. Mariaflavia Harari & Maisy Wong, 2018. "Slum Upgrading and Long-run Urban Development: Evidence from Indonesia," 2018 Meeting Papers 367, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    17. Alves, Guillermo, 2021. "Slum growth in Brazilian cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    18. Thomas, Daniel Robert & Harish, S.P. & Kennedy, Ryan & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2020. "The effects of rural electrification in India: An instrumental variable approach at the household level," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    19. Chabba, Meenakshi & Bhat, Mahadev G. & Sarmiento, Juan Pablo, 2022. "Risk-based benefit-cost analysis of ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction with considerations of co-benefits, equity, and sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    20. Meeks, Robyn, 2018. "Property Rights and Water Access: Evidence from Land Titling in Rural Peru," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 345-357.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Housing conditions; microfinance; health; Uganda; Kenya;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure

    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:zbw:rwirep:878. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rwiesde.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.