microcredit

Credit constraints prevent farmers from arbitraging seasonal price fluctuations; integrated financial solutions can enable grain storage, channel returns into forward-looking investments, and smooth seasonal prices, yielding benefits for the broader ...

Evidence from a range of contexts has shown that while microfinance does not have transformative impacts on lifting people out of poverty, it can greatly benefit specific borrowers such as experienced entrepreneurs.

Evidence from India shows that women’s microcredit groups stimulate women’s political participation by building their networks

Labeled microcredit loans increase the take-up of safe toilets, but take-up and conversion are influenced by intra-household gender differences in perceptions and bargaining power

Disbursing microfinance loans through mobile money accounts empowers female entrepreneurs to resist pressure to share loans with others

By allowing risk sharing, joint-liability lending can foster entrepreneurship among microcredit borrowers

Borrowers who receive loans for a fixed asset run larger businesses and see higher profits, with positive impacts on household consumption

A series of experiments in India provide insights into ways microfinance can be refined to strengthen its impact for the world’s poorest women