IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v72y2018icp31-41.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The trade-off between profitability and outreach in microfinance

Author

Listed:
  • Caserta, Maurizio
  • Monteleone, Simona
  • Reito, Francesco

Abstract

The focus of this paper is on the alleged shift of microfinance programs from targeting poor borrowers towards wealthier clients and profitability. In a simple moral-hazard setting, we determine the equilibrium financial contracts offered by a for-profit and a not-for-profit microfinance institution (MFI). We show that: i) with a for-profit MFI, mission drift does not necessarily occur if borrowers are offered a combination of individual and joint liability contracts; ii) with a not-for-profit MFI, poor individuals are never crowded out by wealthier entrepreneurs.

Suggested Citation

  • Caserta, Maurizio & Monteleone, Simona & Reito, Francesco, 2018. "The trade-off between profitability and outreach in microfinance," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 31-41.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:72:y:2018:i:c:p:31-41
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2018.01.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026499931731060X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2018.01.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dean Karlan & Martin Valdivia, 2011. "Teaching Entrepreneurship: Impact of Business Training on Microfinance Clients and Institutions," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(2), pages 510-527, May.
    2. Ghatak, Maitreesh, 2000. "Screening by the Company You Keep: Joint Liability Lending and the Peer Selection Effect," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(465), pages 601-631, July.
    3. Besanko, David & Thakor, Anjan V., 1987. "Competitive equilibrium in the credit market under asymmetric information," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 167-182, June.
    4. Guha, Brishti & Chowdhury, Prabal Roy, 2013. "Micro-finance competition: Motivated micro-lenders, double-dipping and default," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 86-102.
    5. Chowdhury, Prabal Roy, 2005. "Group-lending: Sequential financing, lender monitoring and joint liability," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(2), pages 415-439, August.
    6. Sergio Navajas & Jonathan Conning & Claudio Gonzalez-Vega, 2003. "Lending technologies, competition and consolidation in the market for microfinance in Bolivia," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(6), pages 747-770.
    7. de Aghion, Beatriz Armendariz & Gollier, Christian, 2000. "Peer Group Formation in an Adverse Selection Model," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(465), pages 632-643, July.
    8. Valentina Hartarska & Denis Nadolnyak, 2007. "Do regulated microfinance institutions achieve better sustainability and outreach? Cross-country evidence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(10), pages 1207-1222.
    9. Sagamba, MoÏse & Shchetinin, Oleg & Yusupov, Nurmukhammad, 2013. "Do Microloan Officers Want to Lend to the Less Advantaged? Evidence from a Choice Experiment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 182-198.
    10. Mersland, Roy & Strøm, R. Øystein, 2010. "Microfinance Mission Drift?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 28-36, January.
    11. Nitin Bhatt & Shui-Yan Tang, 2001. "Making Microcredit Work in the United States: Social, Financial, and Administrative Dimensions," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 15(3), pages 229-241, August.
    12. Ghatak, Maitreesh & Guinnane, Timothy W., 1999. "The economics of lending with joint liability: theory and practice," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 195-228, October.
    13. Francesco Reito, 2011. "Unproductive Investment And Rent Extraction," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(3), pages 213-230, July.
    14. Mano, Yukichi & Iddrisu, Alhassan & Yoshino, Yutaka & Sonobe, Tetsushi, 2012. "How Can Micro and Small Enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa Become More Productive? The Impacts of Experimental Basic Managerial Training," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 458-468.
    15. Robert Cull & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Jonathan Morduch, 2009. "Microfinance Meets the Market," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(1), pages 167-192, Winter.
    16. Beatriz Armendáriz & Ariane Szafarz, 2011. "On Mission Drift in Microfinance Institutions," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Beatriz Armendáriz & Marc Labie (ed.), The Handbook Of Microfinance, chapter 16, pages 341-366, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    17. David McKenzie & Christopher Woodruff, 2014. "What Are We Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations around the Developing World?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 29(1), pages 48-82.
    18. Jessica Schicks, 2007. "Developmental Impact and Coexistence of Sustainable and Charitable MFIs - Analysing BancoSol & Grameen Bank," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/94191, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    19. Jessica Schicks, 2007. "Developmental Impact and Coexistence of Sustainable and Charitable Microfinance Institutions: Analysing BancoSol and Grameen Bank," The European Journal of Development Research, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 551-568.
    20. Hermes, Niels & Lensink, Robert & Meesters, Aljar, 2011. "Outreach and Efficiency of Microfinance Institutions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 938-948, June.
    21. David de Meza & David C. Webb, 1987. "Too Much Investment: A Problem of Asymmetric Information," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 102(2), pages 281-292.
    22. Shakil Quayes, 2012. "Depth of outreach and financial sustainability of microfinance institutions," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(26), pages 3421-3433, September.
    23. Madajewicz, Malgosia, 2011. "Joint liability versus individual liability in credit contracts," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(2), pages 107-123, February.
    24. Gonzalez-Vega, Claudio & Schreiner, Mark & Meyer, Richard L. & Rodriguez-Meza, Jorge & Navajas, Sergio, 1996. "Bancosol: The Challenge Of Growth For Microfinance Organizations," Economics and Sociology Occasional Papers - ESO Series 28333, Ohio State University, Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics.
    25. Xavier Giné & Dean Karlan, 2009. "Group versus Individual Liability: Long Term Evidence from Philippine Microcredit Lending Groups," Working Papers 970, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    26. Shubhashis Gangopadhyay & Maitreesh Ghatak & Robert Lensink, 2005. "Joint Liability Lending and the Peer Selection Effect," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(506), pages 1005-1015, October.
    27. Raihan, Selim & Osmani, S.R. & Khalily, M.A. Baqui, 2017. "The macro impact of microfinance in Bangladesh: A CGE analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1-15.
    28. Lahkar, Ratul & Pingali, Viswanath, 2016. "Expansion and welfare in microfinance: A screening model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1-7.
    29. Ashim Kumar Kar, 2013. "Mission drift in microfinance: are the concerns really worrying? Recent cross-country results," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 44-60, January.
    30. Maurizio Caserta & Francesco Reito, 2013. "Outreach and Mission Drift in Microfinance: An Interpretation of the New Trend," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(1), pages 167-178.
    31. Ghosh, Suman & Van Tassel, Eric, 2011. "Microfinance and competition for external funding," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 112(2), pages 168-170, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wei Xu & Hongyong Fu & Huanpeng Liu, 2019. "Evaluating the Sustainability of Microfinance Institutions Considering Macro-Environmental Factors: A Cross-Country Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-22, October.
    2. Distefano, Rosaria, 2022. "The social cost of playing by the rules in the credit market," MPRA Paper 115326, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Amon Aniké DEH & Ndeye Paane KHOUMA, 2023. "Financial Performance of Microfinance Institutions in Senegal and Ivory Coast: What are the Determinants? [Performance financière des Institutions de Microfinance au Sénégal et en Côte d’Ivoire : Q," Post-Print hal-04363597, HAL.
    4. Bose, Pinaki & Compton, Ryan A. & Basu, Arnab K., 2020. "Paying for freedom: Indentured labour and strategic default," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 502-511.
    5. Keddad, Benjamin & Obiang, Jean Robert Obiang, 2024. "Determinants of deposits volatility: The case of the microfinance sector in gabon," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(PA).
    6. Girma Jirata Duguma & Jiqin Han, 2018. "Effect of Deposit Mobilization on the Financial Sustainability of Rural Saving and Credit Cooperatives: Evidence from Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-23, September.
    7. Jiguang Wang & Bing Ran, 2019. "Balancing Paradoxical Missions: How Does Microfinance Rebuild a Sustainable Path in Poverty Alleviation?," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(2), pages 21582440198, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña & Serrano-Cinca, Carlos, 2019. "20 years of research in microfinance: An information management approach," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 183-197.
    2. Emilios Galariotis & Christophe Villa & Nurmukhammad Yusupov, 2011. "Recent Advances in Lending to the Poor with Asymmetric Information," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(9), pages 1371-1390, July.
    3. Ashim Kumar Kar & Ranjula Bali Swain, 2018. "Competition, Performance and Portfolio Quality in Microfinance Markets," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 30(5), pages 842-870, December.
    4. Maurizio Caserta & Francesco Reito, 2013. "Outreach and Mission Drift in Microfinance: An Interpretation of the New Trend," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(1), pages 167-178.
    5. Janda, Karel & Zetek, Pavel, 2014. "Mikrofinanční Revoluce: Aktuální Kontroverze A Výzvy [Microfinance Revolution: Recent Controversies And Challenges]," MPRA Paper 54098, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Niels Hermes & Marek Hudon, 2018. "Determinants Of The Performance Of Microfinance Institutions: A Systematic Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(5), pages 1483-1513, December.
    7. Janda, Karel & Zetek, Pavel, 2014. "Survey of Microfinance Controversies and Challenges," MPRA Paper 56657, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Bos, Jaap W.B. & Millone, Matteo, 2015. "Practice What You Preach: Microfinance Business Models and Operational Efficiency," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 28-42.
    9. Ahlin, Christian, 2015. "The role of group size in group lending," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 140-155.
    10. Attanasio, O.P. & Augsburg, B. & de Haas, R. & Fitzsimons, E. & Harmgart, H., 2013. "Group Lending or Individual Lending? Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment in Rural Mongolia," Discussion Paper 2013-074, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    11. B. Mak Arvin & Byron Lew (ed.), 2015. "Handbook on the Economics of Foreign Aid," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15762.
    12. Berns, John P. & Shahriar, Abu Zafar M. & Unda, Luisa A., 2021. "Delegated monitoring in crowdfunded microfinance: Evidence from Kiva," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    13. Leonardo Becchetti & Fabio Pisani, 2010. "Microfinance, subsidies and local externalities," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 309-321, April.
    14. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill, 2020. "Microfinance financial sustainability and outreach: is there a trade-off?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 1329-1350, September.
    15. Karel Janda & Pavel Zetek, 2015. "Mikrofinanční revoluce: kontroverze a výzvy [Microfinance Revolution: Controversies and Challenges]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2015(1), pages 108-130.
    16. Leif Atle Beisland & Bert D’Espallier & Roy Mersland, 2019. "The Commercialization of the Microfinance Industry: Is There a ‘Personal Mission Drift’ Among Credit Officers?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 119-134, August.
    17. Hermes, Cornelis & Hudon, M., 2018. "Determinants of the Performance of Microfinance Institutions: A Systematic Review," Research Report 2018008, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    18. Md Aslam Mia & V. G. R. Chandran, 2016. "Measuring Financial and Social Outreach Productivity of Microfinance Institutions in Bangladesh," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 505-527, June.
    19. Widiarto, Indra & Emrouznejad, Ali, 2015. "Social and financial efficiency of Islamic microfinance institutions: A Data Envelopment Analysis application," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-17.
    20. Chowdhury, Shyamal & Chowdhury, Prabal Roy & Sengupta, Kunal, 2014. "Sequential lending with dynamic joint liability in micro-finance," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 167-180.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Microfinance; Outreach; Mission drift;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:72:y:2018:i:c:p:31-41. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.