Here today, gone tomorrow: Can dynamic incentives make microfinance more flexible?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Tedeschi, Gwendolyn Alexander
• 署名单位: Fordham University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2005.01.003
• 发表日期: 2006
• 页码: 84-105
• 关键词: Microfinance; Dynamic incentives; Strategic default

摘要

This paper presents a model of microfinance lending to individuals that uses dynamic incentives, in the form of access to additional loans, to discourage borrowers from strategic default, or the unwillingness to repay a loan once a positive outcome is realized. We propose an improvement on contracts currently used by microfinance institutions (MFIs) by endogenizing the default penalty, while constraining the MFI to maintain sustainable lending operations. Furthermore, accounting for the risks that the poor face by including a negative economic shock, we show that under certain circumstances, the punishment for default need not be a lifetime without loans. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.