Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/91517 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IFS Working Papers No. W12/15
Publisher: 
Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), London
Abstract: 
We use an RCT to analyse the impact of microcredit on poverty reduction in Bosnia. The study population are loan applicants that would normally have just been rejected based on regular screening. We find that access to credit allowed borrowers to start and expand small-scale businesses. Households that already had a business and where the borrower had more education ran down their savings, presumably to complement the loan and to achieve the minimum amount necessary to expand their business. In less-educated households, however, consumption went down. A key new result is that there was a substantial increase in the labor supply of young adults (16-19 year olds). This was accompanied by a reduction in school attendance.
Subjects: 
Microfinance
liquidity constraints
human capital
randomized controlled trial
JEL: 
O16
G21
D21
I32
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
899.11 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.