nep-mfd New Economics Papers
on Microfinance
Issue of 2021‒08‒16
four papers chosen by
Aastha Pudasainee and Olivier Dagnelie
  1. Access to Credit, Education, and Women’s Say in the Household: Evidence from Bangladesh By Boulier, Bryan; Emran, M. Shahe; Hoque, Nazmul
  2. Mobile money and shock-coping: Urban migrants and rural families in Bangladesh under the COVID-19 shock By Egami, Hiroyuki; Mano, Yukichi; Matsumoto, Tomoya
  3. Impact of agriculture finance in modern technologies adoption for enhanced productivity and rural household economic wellbeing in Ghana: A case study of rice farmers in Shai-Osudoku District. By Teye, Evans Sackey; Quarshie, Philip Tetteh
  4. Empirical study of barriers to women's financial inclusion in Morocco By Bouchra Benyacoub
  1. By: Boulier, Bryan; Emran, M. Shahe; Hoque, Nazmul
    Abstract: A substantial literature on women’s say in the household focuses on microcredit, but there is little evidence on the relative roles of credit and education. Using household survey data from Bangladesh, we provide a comparative analysis of the effects of education and microcredit on women’s decision making power in the household. We implement two econometric approaches: bias adjusted OLS estimator of Oster (2019) that extends the Altonji et al. (2005) approach where selection on observables is used as a guide to selection on unobservables, and doubly robust radius matching estimator of Lechner et al. (2011). The evidence suggests a limited impact of microcredit, consistent with the recent evidence from RCT based studies. In contrast, education is much more important for enhancing women’s say in a range of household decisions. There is no significant interaction effect between education and credit. Evidence from Gelbach decomposition suggests that outside employment is an important mediating mechanism, but household wealth and assortative marriage matching on education are not important. The impact of education on women’s decision making remains strong even after controlling for these mediating factors, pointing to the importance of other mechanisms such as self-confidence and better negotiation skills of educated women.
    Keywords: Women’s Empowerment, Household Decision Making, Women’s Education, Microcredit, Bangladesh
    JEL: C31 G21 J16 O10
    Date: 2021–04–29
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:109009&r=
  2. By: Egami, Hiroyuki; Mano, Yukichi; Matsumoto, Tomoya
    Abstract: People in developing economies face substantial income risks and use diverse strategies to mitigate the negative welfare impact. Rural households often send migrants to diversify income sources and depend on remittances to cope with income risks. To examine the risk-coping mechanism of urban migrants and their rural families against the aggregate shock due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we analyze the seven-round Bangladeshi household panel covering the period before and after the first implementation of COVID-19 lockdown policies. Our event study finds that urban migrants experienced more substantial income loss than their rural families and reduced but not ceased remittances to cope with the aggregate shock jointly. Notably, mobile money services allowed them to continue sending remittances even under the lockdown policies.
    Keywords: migrants, remittances, risk coping, aggregate shock, mobile money, COVID-19
    JEL: O12 O15 F23
    Date: 2021–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hiasdp:hias-e-109&r=
  3. By: Teye, Evans Sackey; Quarshie, Philip Tetteh
    Abstract: Rural and agricultural finance innovations have significant potential to improve the livelihoods and food security of the poor. Although microfinance has been widely studied, an extensive knowledge gap still exists on the nuts and bolts of expanding access to rural and agricultural finance. This study uses focus group discussion, key informant interview, and quantitative household survey to explore how smallholders access credits and loans influence adoption of modern production technologies and what are perceived limitations to access these financial instruments in the Shia-Osuduku District in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The specific objectives of the study are; (1) to assess the challenges rice farmers face in accessing finance, (2) to determine if access to finance impacts the adoption of modern rice production technologies and (3) to determine whether loan investments in improved technologies increase productivity and income levels of farmers. The study noted that issues of mistrust for smallholder farmers by financial institutions act as barriers to facilitating their access to loans and credits. Banks and financial institutions relay their mistrust through actions such as requesting outrageous collateral, guarantors, a high sum of savings capital, and a high interest rate for agriculture loans, delays, and bureaucratic processes in accessing loans. The study suggested that enabling policy environment and frameworks with a supportive rural infrastructure such as warehouse receipt systems can significantly increase farmers' access to credit instruments for investment in modern technologies to increase agricultural productivity, which is essential to address food insecurities and rural poverty issues in Ghana.
    Date: 2021–08–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:9ue2k&r=
  4. By: Bouchra Benyacoub (USMBA - Université Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah)
    Abstract: Financial inclusion is the set of mechanisms put in place to enable individuals and businesses, which are excluded from the traditional banking circuit, to access and use financial products and services adapted to their needs. Financial inclusion enables poor people to finance their activities, save and provide for their families. Several studies have demonstrated significant impact that access to and use of financial services has on the lives of individuals and businesses, which in turn leads to increased savings, productive investment, consumption, poverty reduction and women's empowerment. Poor and vulnerable people, especially women, are the most excluded and face great difficulties in accessing formal financial services. The gender gap is wider in Morocco than in similar countries: only 34% of women have access to a bank account compared to 66% of men. Financial inclusion is therefore both an opportunity and a necessity, but is nevertheless hindered by a number of obstacles. The objective of this study is to map out and analyze the barriers to women's financial inclusion through a quantitative study using SPSS software. The study found that the main barriers to women's financial inclusion include their lack of knowledge of financial services, cultural or religious factors, and lack of provisions or aversion to credit. In order to strengthen women's financial inclusion, it is necessary to develop financial services that meet the needs of all social categories and particularly women, the popularization of financial services and products for women, and financial education, which is one of the pillars of financial inclusion, Finally, the use of mobile banking, which is considered a gas pedal of access to and use of financial services, consists of banking transactions carried out from a cell phone, which makes it possible to compensate for the low penetration of formal financial services and to remove the barriers imposed by traditional channels that penalize a large clientele, particularly women.
    Abstract: Déclaration de divulgation : L'auteur n'a pas connaissance de quelconque financement qui pourrait affecter l'objectivité de cette étude. Conflit d'intérêts : L'auteurs ne signale aucun conflit d'intérêts. Citer cet article Benyacoub, B. (2021). Étude empirique sur les freins à l'inclusion financière des femmes au Maroc. L'inclusion financière est l'ensemble des dispositifs mis en place pour permettre aux particuliers et aux entreprises, qui sont exclus du circuit bancaire classique, d'accéder et d'utiliser des produits et services financiers adaptés à leurs besoins. L'inclusion financière permet aux populations pauvres de financer leurs activités, d'épargner et de subvenir aux besoins de leur famille. Plusieurs études Cull et al. (2014) ont prouvé l'impact significatif de l'accès et de l'utilisation des services financiers sur la vie des particuliers et des entreprises ce qui va entrainer par la suite à la croissance de l'épargne, l'augmentation de l'investissement productif, de la consommation, la réduction de la pauvreté et de l'autonomisation des femmes. Les personnes pauvres et vulnérables, en particulier les femmes sont les plus exclues et font face à de grandes difficultés pour accéder aux services financiers formels. L'écart entre les hommes et les femmes est plus important au Maroc. Selon BAM, (2019), seulement 34% des femmes marocaines ont accès à un compte bancaire contre 66% des hommes. L'inclusion financière est donc une opportunité et une nécessité, mais se trouve néanmoins freinée par un certain nombre d'obstacles. L'objectif de cette étude est d'étaler et d'analyser les entraves à l'inclusion financière des femmes à travers une étude quantitative en utilisant le logiciel SPSS. Cette étude a montré que parmi les principaux obstacles à l'inclusion financière des femmes : leur ignorance des services financiers, les facteurs culturels ou religieux, manque de provisions ou aversion aux crédits. Pour renforcer l'inclusion financière des femmes, il faut améliorer la qualité des services financiers afin qu'ils correspondent aux besoins de toutes les classes sociales et particulièrement des femmes, la vulgarisation de services et des produits financiers destinés aux femmes, l'éducation financière, qui constitue un des piliers de l'inclusion financière, ce qui permet aux femmes de connaitre les produits et services financiers et les aide à prendre des décisions financières avec moindres risques et enfin l'utilisation du Mobile Banking qui est considéré comme un accélérateur de l'accès et de l'utilisation des services financiers, qui consiste en des transactions bancaires effectuées depuis un téléphone mobile qui permet de palier à la faible pénétration des services financiers formels et lever les barrières imposées par les circuits classiques qui pénalisent une large clientèle en particulier les femmes.
    Keywords: Financial education,Access to Finance,Accès Au Financement,Education Financière,Inclusion Financière
    Date: 2021–07–26
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03306210&r=
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