Publication: Estimating the Long-Run Impact of Microcredit Programs on Household Income and Net Worth
Date
2014-09
ISSN
Published
2014-09
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper investigates whether the
utilization of microcredit programs has a significant impact
on the income and net worth of the participants. Several
micro finance institutes are optimistic on the beneficial
effects of microcredit programs. Others describe microcredit
with interest rates in excess of 20 percent as a poverty
trap. This paper uses more than 20 years of panel data on
households in Bangladesh to estimate bounds on the causal
effects of microcredit programs. The analysis rejects the
hypothesis that these microcredit programs are a poverty
trap. Moreover, the paper finds moderately positive effects
of such programs.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Woutersen, Tiemen; Khandker, Shahidur R.. 2014. Estimating the Long-Run Impact of Microcredit Programs on Household Income and Net Worth. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7040. © World Bank Group, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20379 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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