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on Microfinance |
| By: | Dean Karlan; Adam Osman; Jonathan Zinman |
| Abstract: | Two for-profit Philippine social enterprises, aiming to demonstrate corporate social responsibility by increasing microlending to the poor, incorporated a widely-used poverty measurement tool into their loan applications and tested the tool using randomized training content. Treated loan officers were instructed why and how to use the tool for targeting; control group training merely labelled the tool “additional household information”. The targeting training backfired, leading to no additional poor applicants and lower-performing loans. Descriptive evidence suggests the targeting training exacerbated loan officer misperceptions and multitasking problems. Our results help explain why corporate social responsibility efforts are often siloed from core operations. |
| JEL: | D12 D22 D92 G21 O12 O16 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24379&r=mfd |
| By: | Shilpa Aggarwal; Eilin Francis; Jonathan Robinson |
| Abstract: | Many farmers in the developing world lack access to effective savings and storage devices. Such devices might be particularly valuable for farmers since income is received as a lump sum at harvest but expenditures are incurred throughout the year, and because grain prices are low at harvest but rise over the year. We experimentally provided two saving schemes to 132 ROSCAs in Kenya, one designed around communally storing maize and the other around saving cash for inputs. About 56% of respondents took up the products. Respondents in the maize storage intervention were 23 percentage points more likely to store maize (on a base of 69%), 37 percentage points more likely to sell maize (on a base of 36%) and (conditional on selling) sold later and at higher prices. We find no effects of the individual input savings intervention on input usage, likely because baseline input adoption was higher than expected. |
| JEL: | D14 O12 O13 O16 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24391&r=mfd |
| By: | Bjorvatn, Kjetil (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Tungodden, Bertil (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | We report from the first randomized controlled trial of a development program targeting people with disabilities: a village savings‐ and loans program in rural Uganda. We find that it has had a strong, positive impact on the lives of the disabled participants,through providing access to financial services and strengthening locus of control. Our results suggest that such programs may represent a promising tool to empowering people living with disabilities in developing countries, but also that more comprehensive measures may be needed to overcome taste‐based discrimination against disabled individuals. |
| Keywords: | Uganda; Development program; disabled people |
| JEL: | J14 |
| Date: | 2018–03–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2018_005&r=mfd |
| By: | Kraemer-Eis, Helmut; Lang, Frank; Torfs, Wouter; Gvetadze, Salome |
| Abstract: | This European Small Business Finance Outlook (ESBFO) provides an overview of the main markets relevant to EIF (equity, guarantees, securitisation, microfinance). It is an update of the ESBFO December 2016. We start by discussing the general market environment, then look at the main aspects of equity finance and guarantees/SME Securitisation (SMESec). Finally, before we conclude, we briefly highlight important aspects of microfinance in Europe. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:eifwps:201743&r=mfd |
| By: | Kraemer-Eis, Helmut; Botsari, Antonia; Gvetadze, Salome; Lang, Frank; Torfs, Wouter |
| Abstract: | This European Small Business Finance Outlook (ESBFO) provides an overview of the main markets relevant to EIF (equity, guarantees, securitisation, microfinance). It is an update of the June 2017 ESBFO edition. We start by discussing the general market environment, then look at the main aspects of equity finance and guarantees/SME Securitisation (SMESec). Finally, before we conclude, we briefly highlight important aspects of microfinance in Europe and – for the first time and due to the rising importance of the segment – we complement our analysis by a chapter on Fintech. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:eifwps:201746&r=mfd |