Gine, Xavier

Person:
Gine, Xavier

Development Research Group

Fields of Specialization

Financial inclusion

ORCID

0000-0001-6628-9108

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Development Research Group

Last updated: March 7, 2025

Biography

Xavier Gine is a Lead Economist in the Finance and Private Sector Development Team of the Development Research Group. He is currently a BREAD affiliate and Associate Editor for the Journal of Development Economics. Since joining the World Bank as a Young Economist in 2002, his research has focused on access to financial services and rural financial markets. In recent papers he investigated the macroeconomic effects of a credit liberalization; the relationship between formal and informal sources of credit in rural credit markets; indigenous interlinked credit contracts in the fishing industry and the impact of microfinance services such as business training and financial literacy, microinsurance and microsavings. Prior to joining the Bank he was a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at the Economic Growth Center at Yale University. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain, an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 72

Anticipation, Disappointment and Adaptation: Evidence from a Home Upgrading Project
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-08-30) Gine, Xavier; Martínez, Meritxell; Melo, Virginia
This paper exploits unexpected delays in the implementation of a home upgrading government program for low-income households in the Dominican Republic to quantify the adverse impact of delays on subjective measures of well-being. The findings show that failure to account for delays in program implementation leads to serious underestimation of program impacts on well-being.
Over-Drilling: Local Externalities and the Social Cost of Electricity Subsidies for Groundwater Pumping
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-07-17) Bueren, Jesus; Gine, Xavier; Jacoby, Hanan G.; Mira, Pedro
Borewells for groundwater extraction have proliferated across South Asia, encouraged by subsidized electricity for pumping. Because borewells operating near one another experience mutually attenuated discharges and higher failure rates, farmers deciding whether and when to drill interact strategically with potentially many neighbors through the spatial network of agricultural plots. To incorporate such interactions in policy counterfactuals, this paper estimates a dynamic discrete network game of well-drilling using plot-level panel data from two states of southern India. The current regime of free (but rationed) electricity is then compared against an annual tax on all functioning borewells that fully defrays electricity costs. The cost-recovery tax, by reining in over-drilling, eliminates a deadweight loss of 170 USD per acre of land with groundwater potential, 30% of the fiscal cost of the subsidy. Further, taxing borewells at a rate 18% higher than annual electricity costs (to address the negative externalities) is socially optimal. The model estimates also suggest a practical compensation scheme to build farmer support for electricity price reform.
Give Me a Pass: Flexible Credit for Entrepreneurs in Colombia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11) Brune, Lasse; Giné, Xavier; Karlan, Dean
Microcredit promised business growth for small firms lacking access to banking loans. Although microcredit has reached millions, recent randomized evaluations find limited average business impacts. Critics often blame contract rigidity, specifically the fixed and frequent installments, for the lack of productive risk-taking. But such rigidity may instill borrower discipline. This study partnered with a Colombian lender that offered first-time borrowers a flexible loan that permitted delaying up to three monthly repayments. The study finds 0 effects for revenue and profits but increases in loan defaults. The evidence thus aligns with established microlender practice of offering rigid contracts to first-time borrowers.
Efficient Irrigation and Water Conservation: Evidence from South India
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06) Fishman, Ram; Gine, Xavier; Jacoby, Hanan G.
Widespread adoption of efficient irrigation technologies, including drip irrigation, has been proposed as a means of limiting groundwater overexploitation, especially in the intensively farmed and water-stressed South Asia region. This paper reports on a randomized controlled trial conducted in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to evaluate the potential productivity and water-saving benefits of smallholder drip irrigation. A group of well-owners was encouraged to adopt drip irrigation through a subsidy scheme, whereas a control group was left to its own devices. The results indicate that, after three years, the drip group shifted into more remunerative and irrigation reliant crops, enjoyed higher agricultural revenue, and transferred (primarily through cash sales) more of its groundwater to adjacent plots. In terms of groundwater pumping, which has zero marginal price in this setting, there is precisely zero difference between the drip and control groups. The evidence thus suggests that drip adoption in South India, while increasing irrigation efficiency, will not save groundwater.
Efficient Irrigation and Water Conservation: Evidence from South India
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-05) Fishman, Ram; Gine, Xavier; Jacoby, Hanan G.
Widespread adoption of efficient irrigation technologies, including drip irrigation, has been proposed as a means of limiting groundwater over-exploitation, especially in the intensively farmed and water-stressed South Asia region. This paper reports on a randomized control trial conducted in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to evaluate the potential productivity and water-savings benefits of small-holder drip irrigation. A group of well-owners was encouraged to adopt drip irrigation through a subsidy scheme, whereas a control group was left to its own devices. The results indicate that, after 3 years, the drip group shifted into more remunerative and irrigation reliant crops, enjoyed higher agricultural revenue, and transferred (primarily through cash sales) more of its groundwater to adjacent plots. In terms of groundwater pumping, which has zero marginal price in this setting, there is precisely zero difference between drip and control groups. The evidence thus suggests that drip adoption in South India, while increasing irrigation efficiency, will not save groundwater.
Toward Successful Development Policies: Insights from Research in Development Economics
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-01) Artuc, Erhan; Cull, Robert; Dasgupta, Susmita; Fattal, Roberto; Filmer, Deon; Gine, Xavier; Jacoby, Hanan; Jolliffe, Dean; Kee, Hiau Looi; Klapper, Leora; Kraay, Aart; Loayza, Norman; Mckenzie, David; Ozler, Berk; Rao, Vijayendra; Rijkers, Bob; Schmukler, Sergio L.; Toman, Michael; Wagstaff, Adam; Woolcock, Michael
What major insights have emerged from development economics in the past decade, and how do they matter for the World Bank? This challenging question was recently posed by World Bank Group President David Malpass to the staff of the Development Research Group. This paper assembles a set of 13 short, nontechnical briefing notes prepared in response to this request, summarizing a selection of major insights in development economics in the past decade. The notes synthesize evidence from recent research on how policies should be designed, implemented, and evaluated, and provide illustrations of what works and what does not in selected policy areas.
The Role of Gender in Agent Banking: Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-10) Chamboko, Richard; Cull, Robert; Gine, Xavier; Heitmann, Soren; Reitzug, Fabian; Van Der Westhuizen, Morne
This paper uses a unique data set with 1.1 million customer transactions from a microfinance institution in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2017 to 2018. The paper provides evidence of assortative gender matching in agent banking transactions, as clients prefer to transact with agents of their own gender. Female clients show a robust preference for female agents even when they are less available, particularly when making high-value transactions and when they have higher account balances. The underrepresentation of female agents may contribute to the persistent gender gap in financial access and usage.
Autonomy and Specificity in Agricultural Technology Adoption: Evidence from Mexico
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-08) Corral, Carolina; Gine, Xavier; Mahajan, Aprajit; Seira, Enrique
This paper explores heterogeneity in soil quality, lack of knowledge, and autonomy as explanations for the low adoption of improved agricultural practices. The paper uses data from a randomized field experiment that combined localized soil analyses, tailored input recommendations, extension services, and an in-kind grant. The analysis finds that while neither the degree of recommendation specificity (plot versus cluster level) nor the extent of autonomy (defined as the freedom of choice in spending the in-kind grant) had any effect on adoption during the intervention, farmers with autonomy had substantially higher adoption of improved practices two years after the intervention ended.
Empowering Farmers to Adopt Agricultural Recommendations
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-09) Corral, Carolina; Gine, Xavier; Mahajan, Aprajit; Seira, Enrique
A quick glance at agricultural input use data from developing countries reveals a large dispersion in take up of improved inputs and practices across farms. One explanation is that this is a problem resulting from limited information, credit constraints, risk, poor input quality, and/or behavioral biases. An alternative view is that farmers are in fact making optimal adoption decisions, and differences among farmers instead reflect heterogeneity in a fixed factor such as soil quality. The authors test whether rainfed farmers in Tlaxcala, Mexico adopt tailored recommendations based on soil analyses and whether productivity improves as a result. The authors vary the level of information specificity (whether recommendations are based on the farmer's own plot or on a larger geographical area) because individually tailored information may be more effective but is also more expensive. The authors also vary whether farmers can choose what inputs to purchase by offering an inflexible grant that subsidizes only the recommended inputs or a flexible one that gives farmers the choice of which inputs to purchase.
Efficiency and Equity of Input Subsidies: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2019-01-01) Patel, Shreena; Gine, Xavier; Ribeiro, Bernardo; Valley, Ildrim
Input subsidy programs (ISP) often have two conflicting targeting goals: selecting individuals with the highest marginal return to inputs on efficiency grounds, or the poorest individuals on equity grounds, allowing for a secondary market to restore efficiency gains. To study this targeting dilemma, we implement a field experiment where beneficiaries of an ISP were selected via a lottery or a local committee. In lottery villages, we find evidence of displacement of private fertilizer and of a secondary market as beneficiaries are more likely to sell inputs to non-beneficiaries. In contrast, in non-lottery villages we find no evidence of displacement nor of elite capture. The impacts of the ISP on agricultural productivity and welfare are limited, suggesting that resources should be directed at complementary investments, such as improving soil quality and irrigation.