The Impact of Credit on Village Economies

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kaboski, Joseph P.; Townsend, Robert M.
• 署名单位: University of Notre Dame; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.4.2.98
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 98-133
• 关键词: financial development; GROWTH; MODEL; INEQUALITY; PROGRAMS; POOR

摘要

This paper evaluates the short-and longer term impact of Thailand's Million Baht Village Fund program, among the largest scale government microfinance iniatives in the world, using pre- and post-program panel data and quasi-experimental cross-village variation in credit per household. We find that the village funds have increased total short-term credit, consumption, agricultural investment, and income growth (from business and labor), but decreased overall asset growth. We also find a positive impact on wages, an important general equilibrium effect. The findings are broadly consistent qualitatively with models of credit-constrained household behavior and models of intermediation and growth. (JEL D14, G21, O12, O16, O18)