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Do Spouses Make Claims? Empowerment and Microfinance in India

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  • Rai, Ashok
  • Ravi, Shamika

Abstract

Summary We study a microfinance program that provides compulsory health insurance to its borrowers and their spouses. We find that non-borrowing spouses are less likely to file insurance claims than those who are borrowing. Further, a man is more likely to use the health insurance acquired through his wife's loan than is a woman (through her husband's loan). These patterns suggest that women who do not borrow are disempowered relative to those who do.

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  • Rai, Ashok & Ravi, Shamika, 2011. "Do Spouses Make Claims? Empowerment and Microfinance in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 913-921, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:39:y:2011:i:6:p:913-921
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    3. Baland, Jean-Marie & Gangadharan, Lata & Maitra, Pushkar & Somanathan, Rohini, 2017. "Repayment and exclusion in a microfinance experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 176-190.
    4. Jeleta Kebede & Vincent Tawiah & Ernest Gyapong, 2023. "The effect of corruption on microfinance loan portfolio: A semiparametric analysis," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 241-268, January.
    5. Samer Ali Al-shami & Abdullah Al Mamun & Nurulizwa Rashid & Mohammed Al-shami, 2021. "Microcredit Impact on Socio-Economic Development and Women Empowerment in Low-Income Countries: Evidence from Yemen," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-18, August.
    6. Ambreen Khursheed, 2022. "Exploring the role of microfinance in women’s empowerment and entrepreneurial development: a qualitative study," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, December.
    7. Mohamed Arouri & Nguyen Viet Cuong, 2020. "Does microcredit reduce the gender gap in employment? Evidence from Egypt," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(2), pages 111-124, June.
    8. Tchakoute Tchuigoua, Hubert, 2016. "Buffer capital in microfinance institutions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3523-3537.
    9. Kendo, Sandra & Tchakounte, Josephine, 2022. "The drivers of the financial integration of microfinance Institutions: Do financial development, agency costs and microfinance performance matter?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 128-142.
    10. Sanghita Bhattacharjee & Bhaskar Goswami, 2020. "Female Domestic Workers: Income Determinants and Empowerment Correlates—A Case Study," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 63(2), pages 483-498, June.
    11. Sayed Samer Ali Al-shami & R. M. Razali & Nurulizwa Rashid, 2018. "The Effect of Microcredit on Women Empowerment in Welfare and Decisions Making in Malaysia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(3), pages 1073-1090, June.
    12. Hubert Tchakoute Tchuigoua, 2023. "Loan officer gender and loan repayment performance. Evidence from greenfield microfinance institutions in Cameroon1," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(2), pages 519-548, June.
    13. Nixon Kagutha Njue & Esther Wangithi Waiganjo & John M. Kihoro, 2016. "Influence of Coaching as a Leadership Development Practice on the Performance of Microfinance Institutions in Kenya," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 6(10), pages 206-217, October.
    14. Ishraq Ahmed & Erick Kitenge, 2022. "Microfinance outreach and aggregate welfare," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(3), pages 652-669, April.
    15. Hermes, Niels & Lensink, Robert, 2011. "Microfinance: Its Impact, Outreach, and Sustainability," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 875-881, June.
    16. Ernest Gyapong & Daniel Gyimah & Ammad Ahmed, 2021. "Religiosity, borrower gender and loan losses in microfinance institutions: a global evidence," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 657-692, August.
    17. Weber, Olaf & Ahmad, Adnan, 2014. "Empowerment Through Microfinance: The Relation Between Loan Cycle and Level of Empowerment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 75-87.
    18. Verrest, Hebe, 2013. "Rethinking Microentrepreneurship and Business Development Programs: Vulnerability and Ambition in Low-income Urban Caribbean Households," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 58-70.
    19. Jun Goto, 2013. "The Impacts of Self-Help Group Programs: Experimental and Survey Evidence from South India," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(4), pages 2874-2889.
    20. Sandra Kendo & Josephine Tchakounte, 2022. "The drivers of the financial integration of microfinance Institutions: Do financial development, agency costs and microfinance performance matter?," Post-Print hal-04529938, HAL.
    21. Sanghita Bhattacharjee & Bhaskar Goswami, 2020. "Determinants of Empowerment: An Insight from the Study of the Female Domestic Workers," Paradigm, , vol. 24(2), pages 226-238, December.

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