Asset-Based Microfinance for Microenterprises: Evidence from Pakistan

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bari, Faisal; Malik, Kashif; Meki, Muhammad; Quinn, Simon
• 署名单位: Lahore University of Management Sciences; University of Oxford; University of Oxford; Imperial College London
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20210169
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 534-574
• 关键词: microcredit evidence; IMPACT; credit; POOR; LABOR; entrepreneurship; bangladesh; returns; savings; MODEL

摘要

We run a field experiment offering graduated microcredit clients the opportunity to finance a business asset worth four times their usual borrowing limit. We implement this using a hire-purchase contract; our control group is offered a zero interest loan at the usual borrowing limit. We find large, significant, and persistent effects: treated microenterprise owners run larger businesses with higher profits; consequently, household consumption increases, particularly on food and children's education. A dynamic structural model with nonconvex capital adjustment costs rationalizes our results and allows counterfactual analysis; this highlights the potential for welfare improvements through large capital injections that are financially sustainable.