Micro-Finance and Poverty : Evidence Using Panel Data from Bangladesh

Micro-finance supports mainly informal activities that often have low market demand. It may be thus hypothesized that the aggregate poverty impact of micro-finance in an economy with low economic growth is modest or nonexistent. The observed borrower-level poverty impact is then a result of income redistribution or short-run income generation. The author addresses these questions using household level panel data from Bangladesh. The findings confirm that micro-finance benefits the poorest and has sustained impact in reducing poverty among program participants. It also has positive spillover impact, reducing poverty at the village level. But the effect is more pronounced in reducing extreme rather than moderate poverty.

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Khandker, Shahidur R.
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2003-01
Subjects:	AGGREGATE LEVEL, ANTIPOVERTY PROGRAMS, ASSET VARIABLES, BENEFICIARIES, BORROWING, CAPITAL MOBILITY, COMMERCIAL BANKS, CONSUMPTION DATA, DATA ANALYSIS, DATA COLLECTION, DATA SET, DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS, DEVELOPMENT PRACTITIONERS, DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, ECONOMIC FACTORS, ECONOMIC GROWTH, EMPLOYMENT, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, EXTERNALITIES, EXTREME POVERTY, FEMALE EDUCATION, FINANCIAL SERVICES, GROWTH RATE, HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS, HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION, HOUSEHOLD HEAD, HOUSEHOLD LEVEL, HOUSEHOLD SURVEY, HOUSEHOLD WEALTH, HOUSEHOLD WELFARE, HUMAN CAPITAL, IMPACT ASSESSMENT, INCIDENCE OF POVERTY, INCOME, INCOME GENERATION, INCOME REDISTRIBUTION, INFORMAL ACTIVITIES, INTRA-HOUSEHOLD DISTRIBUTION, LANDLESS HOUSEHOLDS, LONGITUDINAL DATA, MARGINAL PRODUCT, MICRO- FINANCE PROGRAMS, MICRO-FINANCE PROGRAMS, MICROFINANCE, NGO, POLICY RESEARCH, POOR HOUSEHOLDS, POVERTY IMPACT, POVERTY IMPACTS, POVERTY LINE, POVERTY REDUCTION, POVERTY STATUS, PRODUCERS, PRODUCTIVITY, PROGRAM EFFECTS, PROGRAM IMPACTS, PROGRAM PLACEMENT BIAS, PROGRAMS, REAL TERMS, REDUCING POVERTY, RURAL AREAS, RURAL HOUSEHOLDS, RURAL POVERTY, SAMPLE HOUSEHOLDS, SAVINGS, SOCIAL INDICATORS, SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS, SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS, TARGETING, TRANSACTION COSTS, VILLAGE CHARACTERISTICS MICROFINANCE, POVERTY INCIDENCE, POVERTY ESTIMATES, LABOR MARKET NEXUS, AGGREGATE VARIABILITY, ECONOMIC CONSTRAINTS, HOUSEHOLD DATA, SPILLOVER EFFECTS, ABSOLUTE POVERTY,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/01/2126589/microfinance-poverty-evidence-using-panel-data-bangladesh https://hdl.handle.net/10986/19180
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!