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Is microfinance raising village income? The issue of excess entry

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  • de Fontenay, Catherine
  • Wood, Callum

Abstract

This paper offers new insight into the question of why we have not seen microfinance programs lift beneficiary regions out of poverty. We suggest that the explanation may lie in the industry choice of microfinance participants: if borrowers tend to enter imperfectly competitive sectors, such as retail, there may be a “business-stealing” effect that reduces incomes of existing businesses. Our model shows that microfinance may lower total incomes at the village level. The result is related to the classic Mankiw and Whinston (1986) result on excess entry. The results imply that microfinance organizations may want to steer recipients away from the petty retail sector in some markets.

Suggested Citation

  • de Fontenay, Catherine & Wood, Callum, 2018. "Is microfinance raising village income? The issue of excess entry," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 17-20.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:165:y:2018:i:c:p:17-20
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2018.01.016
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ahlin, Christian & Jiang, Neville, 2008. "Can micro-credit bring development?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 1-21, April.
    2. Banerjee, Abhijit V & Newman, Andrew F, 1993. "Occupational Choice and the Process of Development," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(2), pages 274-298, April.
    3. N. Gregory Mankiw & Michael D. Whinston, 1986. "Free Entry and Social Inefficiency," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 17(1), pages 48-58, Spring.
    4. Joseph P. Kaboski & Robert M. Townsend, 2012. "The Impact of Credit on Village Economies," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 98-133, April.
    5. Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo & Rachel Glennerster & Cynthia Kinnan, 2015. "The Miracle of Microfinance? Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 22-53, January.
    6. Oo, Alex & Toth, Russell, 2014. "Do community-sanctioned social pressures constrain microenterprise growth? Evidence from a framed field experiment," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 75-95.
    7. Manuela Angelucci & Dean Karlan & Jonathan Zinman, 2015. "Microcredit Impacts: Evidence from a Randomized Microcredit Program Placement Experiment by Compartamos Banco," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 151-182, January.
    8. Mahmud Yesuf & Randall A. Bluffstone, 2009. "Poverty, Risk Aversion, and Path Dependence in Low-Income Countries: Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1022-1037.
    9. Orazio Attanasio & Britta Augsburg & Ralph De Haas & Emla Fitzsimons & Heike Harmgart, 2015. "The Impacts of Microfinance: Evidence from Joint-Liability Lending in Mongolia," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 90-122, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Beladi, Hamid & Chao, Chi-Chur & Ee, Mong Shan & Yu, Eden S.H., 2019. "Capital market distortion, firm entry and wage inequality," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-1.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Microfinance; Business stealing; Excess entry;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

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