Banerjee et al. (2015) presented the results of six randomized evaluations that led them to conclude that micro-credit does not have a transformative impact on poverty and that little evidence of substantial effects on women's empowerment exist. We argue that even if no effects of micro-finance exist at the household/individual level, there still may be observable effects at the regional level due to the wider impacts of microfinance. A Bayesian Spatial-Propensity Score Matching estimator is proposed to measure these regional (spatial) treatment effects. The regional effects of microfinance in Bolivia were tested with this estimator, using census and household survey data. The results – conditional on the assumptions of the study– showed that microfinance was useful for poverty reduction and women’s-empowerment at the municipal level in Bolivia, thus suggesting that microfinance can be used to promote socio-economic development at the regional level.
Project leader: Rolando Gonzales
Project researchers: Joel Mendizabal | Maria Renee Guerra | Patricia Aranda
Scientific mentors: Luca Tiberti
| Authors | Co-Authors | Title of paper | Title of Economic Review | Bibliographic references |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rolando Gonzales | Joel Mendizabal, Patricia Aranda | A Bayesian Spatial Propensity Score Matching Evaluation of the Regional Impact of Micro-finance | Review of Economic Analysis |
| Title | Modified | Size | Comments | Recommendations | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Is it true that microfinance is useless in the pursuit of poverty reduction and female empowerment? The case of Bolivia | 2016-05-04 | 405.19KB | 0 | 0 |
| Title | Modified | Size | Comments | Recommendations | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-02-08 | 1216.26KB | 0 | 0 |
| Title | Modified | Size | Comments | Recommendations | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-07-03 | 642.66KB | 3 | 1 |
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