Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/19856
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2006
Series/Report no.: 
Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Berlin 2006 No. 24
Publisher: 
Verein für Socialpolitik, Ausschuss für Entwicklungsländer, Hannover
Abstract: 
This paper analyzes the use of informal credit as a coping strategy against risk by market women in the city of Tamale, Ghana. Using qualitative research techniques, the analysis reveals that intra-household structure and allocation decisions determine these market-based coping strategies. Market women invest a considerable amount of working hours in maintaining complex credit networks as a safeguard against extreme risks. As a policy implication, this research suggests to provide market women with access to formal, reliable and long-term microfinance institutions, both to improve their ability to cope with risks and to reduce the risks they face.
Subjects: 
micro-credit
informal markets
networks
coping strategies
intra-household allocation
women
Ghana
JEL: 
O17
D13
O12
Document Type: 
Conference Paper

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