IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v43y2013icp288-297.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is Micro too Small? Microcredit vs. SME Finance

Author

Listed:
  • Bauchet, Jonathan
  • Morduch, Jonathan

Abstract

Microcredit and small and medium enterprise (SME) finance are often pitched as alternative strategies to create employment opportunities in low-income communities. So far, though, little is known about how employment patterns compare. We integrate evidence from three surveys to show that, compared to Bangladeshi microcredit customers, typical SME employees in Bangladesh have more education and professional skills, and live in households that are notably less poor. SME jobs also require long work weeks, clashing with family responsibilities. The evidence from Bangladesh rejects the idea that SME finance more efficiently creates jobs for the population currently served by microcredit.

Suggested Citation

  • Bauchet, Jonathan & Morduch, Jonathan, 2013. "Is Micro too Small? Microcredit vs. SME Finance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 288-297.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:43:y:2013:i:c:p:288-297
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2012.10.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X12002525
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2012.10.008?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. Van Biesebroeck, Johannes, 2005. "Firm Size Matters: Growth and Productivity Growth in African Manufacturing," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(3), pages 545-583, April.
    2. Kremer, M & Maskin, E, 1996. "Wage Inequality and Segregation by Skill," Working papers 96-23, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
    3. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Laeven, Luc & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 2006. "The determinants of financing obstacles," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 932-952, October.
    4. Esther Duflo, 2003. "Grandmothers and Granddaughters: Old-Age Pensions and Intrahousehold Allocation in South Africa," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 17(1), pages 1-25, June.
    5. Jonathan Conning & Jonathan Morduch, 2011. "Microfinance and Social Investment," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 407-434, December.
    6. Shahidur R. Khandker, 2005. "Microfinance and Poverty: Evidence Using Panel Data from Bangladesh," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 19(2), pages 263-286.
    7. M. Shahe Emran & A. K. M. Mahbub Morshed & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2021. "Microfinance and missing markets," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(1), pages 34-67, February.
    8. Vandenberg, Paul, 2003. "Adapting to the Financial Landscape: Evidence from Small Firms in Nairobi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(11), pages 1829-1843, November.
    9. Davis, Steven J & Haltiwanger, John & Schuh, Scott, 1996. "Small Business and Job Creation: Dissecting the Myth and Reassessing the Facts," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 297-315, August.
    10. Duflo, Esther & Udry, Christopher R., 2003. "Intrahousehold Resource Allocation in Cote D'Ivoire: Social Norms, Separate Accounts and Consumption Choices," Center Discussion Papers 28404, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    11. Arne Bigsten & Mans Söderbom, 2006. "What Have We Learned from a Decade of Manufacturing Enterprise Surveys in Africa?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 21(2), pages 241-265.
    12. Meghana Ayyagari & Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirguc-Kunt, 2007. "Small and Medium Enterprises Across the Globe," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 415-434, December.
    13. Mead, Donald C., 1994. "The contribution of small enterprises to employment growth in southern and eastern Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(12), pages 1881-1894, December.
    14. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirgüç‐Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2005. "Financial and Legal Constraints to Growth: Does Firm Size Matter?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 137-177, February.
    15. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, 2006. "Small and medium-size enterprises: Access to finance as a growth constraint," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 2931-2943, November.
    16. Alan Hughes, 2000. "On Enlarging Employment By Promoting Small Enterprises," Working Papers wp180, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    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. Wignaraja, Ganeshan & Jinjarak, Yothin, 2015. "Why Do SMEs Not Borrow More from Banks? Evidence from the People's Republic of China and Southeast Asia," ADBI Working Papers 509, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    2. Adeleke Oladapo Banwo & Jianguo Du & Uchechi Onokala, 2017. "The determinants of location specific choice: small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 7(1), pages 1-17, December.
    3. Adeleke Oladapo Banwo & Jianguo Du, 2019. "Workplace pro-environmental behaviors in small and medium-sized enterprises: an employee level analysis," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 9(1), pages 1-20, December.
    4. Tristan Caballero-Montes, 2023. "Integrating market conditions into regulatory decisions on microfinance interest rates: does competition matter?," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 201-232, June.
    5. Félix, Elisabete Gomes Santana & Belo, Teresa Freitas, 2019. "The impact of microcredit on poverty reduction in eleven developing countries in south-east Asia," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 52.
    6. Túlio A. Cravo & Caio Piza, 2019. "The impact of business-support services on firm performance: a meta-analysis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 753-770, October.
    7. Obed I. Ojonta & Divine N. Obodoechi & Paschaline N. Ugwu, 2021. "Start-up Capital Source and Credit Access Participation of Household Nonfarm Enterprises in Nigeria: Evidence from Logistic Regression Model," Managing Global Transitions, University of Primorska, Faculty of Management Koper, vol. 19(3 (Fall)), pages 249-267.
    8. Paramasivam Ramasamy & Umanath Malaiarasan, 2023. "Agricultural credit in India: determinants and effects," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 169-195, June.
    9. Demyen Suzana & Jurita (Margineantu) Adela-Adriana, 2022. "The Problem Of Choice - Advantages And Disadvantages Of Smes Vs. Multinational Companies In The Perception Of Potential Employees In The Context Of The Pandemic," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 3, pages 64-77, June.
    10. Shahnaz Parvin, 2021. "Individual’s Perception in Microcredit: A Case Study in the Area of HSTU, Dinajpur, Bangladesh," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 5(8), pages 183-193.
    11. 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.
    12. Trinh Chieu & Tam Nguyen, 2018. "Slack resources and innovation in Vietnamese SMEs: A behavioural, stewardship, and institutional perspective," WIDER Working Paper Series 78, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Do Xuan Luan, 2015. "Microcredit and Poverty Reduction: A Case Study of Microfinance Fund for Community Development in Northern Vietnam," Journal of Agricultural Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 7(8), pages 1-44, July.
    14. Obianuju E Okeke-Uzodike & Mogie Subban, 2019. "Cluster initiative management: A potential for African women entrepreneurs in the informal sector," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 34(5), pages 421-438, August.
    15. Surender Mor & Sonu Madan & Geoffrey R. Archer & Arvind Ashta, 2020. "Survival of the Smallest: A Study of Microenterprises in Haryana, India," Millennial Asia, , vol. 11(1), pages 54-78, April.
    16. M. Shahe Emran & A. K. M. Mahbub Morshed & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2021. "Microfinance and missing markets," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(1), pages 34-67, February.
    17. Anastasia Cozarenco & Ariane Szafarz, 2016. "Microcredit in Industrialized Countries: Unexpected Consequences of Regulatory Loan Ceilings," Working Papers CEB 16-021, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    18. Tam Thanh Nguyen & Trinh Duc Chieu, 2018. "Slack resources and innovation in Vietnamese SMEs: A behavioural, stewardship, and institutional perspective," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-78, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    19. 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).

    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. W. Raphael Lam & Yan Liu, 2020. "Tackling Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Financing in China," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 21(1), pages 209-239, May.
    2. Horvath, Akos & Lang, Peter, 2021. "Do loan subsidies boost the real activity of small firms?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    3. Cravo, Túlio A., 2011. "Are small employers more cyclically sensitive? Evidence from Brazil," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 754-769.
    4. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & María Pería, 2011. "Bank Financing for SMEs: Evidence Across Countries and Bank Ownership Types," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 39(1), pages 35-54, April.
    5. Swati Agrawal & Poonam Singh & Mainak Mazumdar, 2021. "Innovation, Firm Size and Ownership: A Study of Firm Transition in India," International Journal of Global Business and Competitiveness, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 15-27, June.
    6. Mirgul Nizaeva & Ali Coskun, 2019. "Investigating the Relationship Between Financial Constraint and Growth of SMEs in South Eastern Europe," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(3), pages 21582440198, September.
    7. Kersten, Renate & Harms, Job & Liket, Kellie & Maas, Karen, 2017. "Small Firms, large Impact? A systematic review of the SME Finance Literature," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 330-348.
    8. Knack, Steve & Xu, Lixin Colin, 2017. "Unbundling institutions for external finance: Worldwide firm-level evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 215-232.
    9. Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958- & Teruel, Mercedes, 2010. "Are small firms more sensitive to financial variables?," Working Papers 2072/151623, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    10. Bagayev, Igor & Najman, Boris, 2014. "Money to fill the gap? Local financial development and energy intensity in Europe and Central Asia," MPRA Paper 55193, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Kuntchev, Veselin & Ramalho, Rita & Rodriguez-Meza, Jorge & Yang, Judy S., 2013. "What have we learned from the enterprise surveys regarding access to credit by SMEs ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6670, The World Bank.
    12. Matthias Doepke & Michèle Tertilt, 2019. "Does female empowerment promote economic development?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 309-343, December.
    13. Marcela Eslava & Xavier Freixas, 2021. "Public Development Banks and Credit Market Imperfections," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(5), pages 1121-1149, August.
    14. Tanja Jakimova & Neda Popovska Kamnar, 2019. "Bank financing to SMEs in the Republic of North Macedonia: Evidence from Survey Data," Working Papers 2019-01, National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia.
    15. Túlio Cravo, 2011. "Are Small Firms more cyclically Sensitive than Large Ones? National, Regional and Sectoral Evidence from Brazil," ERSA conference papers ersa10p507, European Regional Science Association.
    16. Esho, Ebes & Verhoef, Grietjie, 2018. "The Funding Gap and the Financing of Small and Medium Businesses: An Integrated Literature Review and an Agenda," MPRA Paper 90153, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 21 Nov 2018.
    17. Lau, Siew Yee & Parinduri, Rasyad & Lee, Yoong Hon, 2019. "Does Social Health Insurance Help Owners of Micro- and Small Firms Cope with Family Hardships? Evidence from Indonesia," MPRA Paper 95295, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Francisco Díez-Martín & Alicia Blanco-González & Camilo Prado-Román, 2016. "Explaining nation-wide differences in entrepreneurial activity: a legitimacy perspective," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 1079-1102, December.
    19. Ćehajić, Aida & Košak, Marko, 2022. "Bank lending and small and medium-sized enterprises’ access to finance – Effects of macroprudential policies," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    20. Berg, Gunhild & Fuchs, Michael, 2013. "Bank financing of SMEs in five Sub-Saharan African countries : the role of competition, innovation, and the government," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6563, The World Bank.

    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:wdevel:v:43:y:2013:i:c:p:288-297. 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/worlddev .

    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.