Love, InessaBruhn, Miriam2012-03-192012-03-192009-06-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/4173This paper examines the effects of providing financial services to low-income individuals on entrepreneurial activity, employment, and income. The analysis exploits cross-time and cross-municipality variation in the opening of Banco Azteca in Mexico to measure these effects with a difference-in-difference strategy. Banco Azteca opened more than 800 branches simultaneously in 2002, focusing on low-income clients. The results show that the opening of Banco Azteca led to an increase in the number of informal business owners by 7.6 percent. Total employment also increased, by 1.4 percent, and average income went up by about 7 percent.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS TO CREDITACCESS TO FINANCEACCESS TO FINANCIAL SERVICESANNUAL INTEREST RATEAVAILABILITY OF CREDITBAD BANKSBANK ACCOUNTBANK BRANCHBANK BRANCHESBANK COMPETITIONBANK CREDITBANK LOANSBANKING INDUSTRYBANKING SECTORBANKING SYSTEMBIASESBORROWERBUSINESS OWNERBUSINESS OWNERSCHIEF EXECUTIVECOLLATERALCOMMERCIAL BANKCOMMERCIAL BANKINGCOMMERCIAL BANKSCONSUMERCONSUMER CREDITCONSUMER GOODSCONSUMER LOANSCONSUMERSCREDIT ACCESSCREDIT AVAILABILITYCREDIT CONSTRAINTSCREDIT HISTORIESCREDIT PROGRAMSCREDIT UNIONSDEBTORSDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTSDOWN PAYMENTDRIVERSEARNINGSECONOMIC ACTIVITYECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIESENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITYENTREPRENEURSHIPFAMILIESFAMILY INCOMESFAMILY MEMBERSFINANCIAL DEVELOPMENTFINANCIAL NEEDSFINANCIAL SECTORFINANCIAL SERVICESFRANCHISEGENDERGROUP LENDINGHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLDSHUSBANDSIDSINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME GROUPSINCOME LEVELSINCOMESINCORPORATIONSINCREASE IN INCOMEINEQUALITYINFORMAL ECONOMYINFORMATION TECHNOLOGYINSTALLMENTINSURANCEINTEREST RATESINTERNATIONAL BANKINVENTORYLABOR FORCELABOR MARKETLACK OF ACCESSLEGAL TITLELIMITEDLIVING STANDARDSLOANLOAN OFFICERLOAN OFFICERSLOAN PORTFOLIOLOAN SIZELOW INCOMELOW-INCOMELOW-INCOME CUSTOMERSLOW-INCOME INDIVIDUALSLOWER INTEREST RATESLOWER-INCOME INDIVIDUALSMARKET CONDITIONSMASS MARKETMERCHANTSMICRO BUSINESSMICRO ENTREPRENEURSMICRO LOANSMICROCREDITMICROFINANCEMICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONMICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONSMICROFINANCE LOANMINIMUM WAGEMINIMUM WAGESMONEY TRANSFERSMONTHLY INCOMEMORTGAGEMUNICIPALITIESMUNICIPALITYOCCUPATIONSOPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMENOUTSTANDING LOANSPARENT COMPANYPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOSSESSIONSPOVERTY ALLEVIATIONPURCHASESRAPID GROWTHRATES OF RETURNREGRESSION ANALYSISREGULATORY FRAMEWORKSRESEARCH ASSISTANCERURAL BANKSSALESSAVINGSSAVINGS ACCOUNTSAVINGS ACCOUNTSSELF-EMPLOYMENTSMALL BUSINESSESSOCIAL BANKINGSOCIETYSTART-UPSTATE BANKSTOP MANAGEMENTTRADITIONAL BANKINGUNEMPLOYEDUNEMPLOYMENTUNEMPLOYMENT STATISTICSUNIONUNPAID WORKERSVILLAGEWAGEWORKING AGEWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-4981