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Joint liability versus individual liability in credit contracts

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  • Madajewicz, Malgosia

Abstract

I offer an explanation for the coexistence of joint-liability and individual-liability microcredit contracts. I show that both contracts maximize welfare when credit is rationed due to limited liability, but for different borrowers. Borrowers monitor each other when liability is joint, while the lender monitors individual loans. Joint liability offers poorer borrowers larger loans with less monitoring effort than would have to be exerted by the lender. Individual liability offers the wealthier among credit-constrained borrowers larger loans even without monitoring. The theory explains why individual loans serve the wealthier among poor borrowers and are larger, and why businesses funded with individual loans grow more.

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  • Madajewicz, Malgosia, 2011. "Joint liability versus individual liability in credit contracts," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(2), pages 107-123, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:77:y:2011:i:2:p:107-123
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    5. Labie, Marc & Méon, Pierre-Guillaume & Mersland, Roy & Szafarz, Ariane, 2015. "Discrimination by microcredit officers: Theory and evidence on disability in Uganda," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 44-55.
    6. 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.
    7. Agarwal, Sumit & Ambrose, Brent W. & Chomsisengphet, Souphala & Liu, Chunlin, 2016. "Joint liability lending and credit risk: Evidence from the home equity market," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 47-66.
    8. Czura, Kristina, 2015. "Pay, peek, punish? Repayment, information acquisition and punishment in a microcredit lab-in-the-field experiment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 119-133.
    9. Issahaku Salifu, 2020. "The Influence of Geographical Coverage on the Microfinance Sustainability and Outreach in Northern Ghana," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(2), pages 1-82, February.
    10. 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.
    11. Gelade, Wouter & Guirkinger, Catherine, 2018. "The enforcement advantage of external monitoring: Lessons from an experiment with joint-liability groups in Burkina Faso," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 307-325.
    12. Erica Field & Rohini Pande & John Papp & Natalia Rigol, 2013. "Does the Classic Microfinance Model Discourage Entrepreneurship among the Poor? Experimental Evidence from India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2196-2226, October.
    13. 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).
    14. Shirley J. Ho & Sushanta K. Mallick, 2017. "Does Institutional Linkage of Bank-MFI Foster Inclusive Financial Development Even in the Presence of MFI Frauds?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 64(3), pages 283-309, July.
    15. Peter J. Simmons & Nongnuch Tantisantiwong, 2022. "The Socially Optimal Loan Auditing with Multiple Projects," Discussion Papers 22/07, Department of Economics, University of York.
    16. Tiziana Venittelli, 2017. "The Impact of Microfinance Institutions on the Informal Credit Market: Evidence from Andhra Pradesh," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 29(2), pages 512-531, April.
    17. Giné, Xavier & Karlan, Dean S., 2014. "Group versus individual liability: Short and long term evidence from Philippine microcredit lending groups," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 65-83.

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