IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijfss/v6y2018i1p16-d129793.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Microfinance and the Decision to Invest in Children’s Education

Author

Listed:
  • PV Viswanath

    (Lubin School of Business, Pace University, 1 Pace Plaza, New York, NY 10038, USA)

Abstract

Although one of the primary objectives of microfinance has been the reduction of poverty through the provision of credit for income-generating purposes, evidence of its impact on poverty has been mixed. Even if there is no direct impact of microfinance, there may be an indirect positive impact through the effect of microcredit availability on families’ decisions to invest in their children’s education. In this paper, I describe a study undertaken to gauge the impact of microcredit availability on education expenditures for children of clients of a South Indian microfinance institution. I first look at some determinants of the demand for education and then go on to consider what we know about how microcredit affects this demand. I find that microcredit has an impact on the demand for education as mediated by wealth effects and status effects, i.e., microloans increase spending on education the greater the wealth and the greater the social status of the family. Focus group interviews suggest that the impact of microcredit on the demand for education comes mainly from the greater access to financial resources and, to a lesser degree, from an accompanying appreciation of the value of education.

Suggested Citation

  • PV Viswanath, 2018. "Microfinance and the Decision to Invest in Children’s Education," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-20, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijfss:v:6:y:2018:i:1:p:16-:d:129793
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/6/1/16/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/6/1/16/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hanan G. Jacoby & Emmanuel Skoufias, 1997. "Risk, Financial Markets, and Human Capital in a Developing Country," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(3), pages 311-335.
    2. Jere R. Behrman & Mark R. Rosenzweig, 2002. "Does Increasing Women's Schooling Raise the Schooling of the Next Generation?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 323-334, March.
    3. Tao Yang, Dennis, 2004. "Education and allocative efficiency: household income growth during rural reforms in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 137-162, June.
    4. Lee, Keun & Kim, Byung-Yeon, 2009. "Both Institutions and Policies Matter but Differently for Different Income Groups of Countries: Determinants of Long-Run Economic Growth Revisited," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 533-549, March.
    5. Esther Duflo, 2012. "Women Empowerment and Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1051-1079, December.
    6. Joseph Kimos Adjei & Thankom Arun & Farhad Hossain, 2009. "The Role of Microfinance in Asset-Building and Poverty Reduction: The Case of Sinapi Aba Trust of Ghana," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 8709, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    7. Alessandro Tarozzi & Jaikishan Desai & Kristin Johnson, 2015. "The Impacts of Microcredit: Evidence from Ethiopia," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 54-89, January.
    8. Schneider Brit S. & Schneider Udo & Ulrich Volker, 2007. "Health and the Decision to Invest in Education," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 227(5-6), pages 725-746, October.
    9. Armando Barrientos & David Hulme, 2008. "Social Protection for the Poor and Poorest in Developing Countries: Reflections on a Quiet Revolution," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 3008, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    10. Mobolaji Hakeem I., 2010. "Banking development, human capital and economic growth in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA)," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 37(5), pages 557-577, September.
    11. Behrman, Jere R & Knowles, James C, 1999. "Household Income and Child Schooling in Vietnam," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 13(2), pages 211-256, May.
    12. Sabina Alkire & Andy Sumner, 2013. "Multidimensional Poverty and the Post-2015 MDGs," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 56(1), pages 46-51, March.
    13. Maldonado, Jorge H. & González-Vega, Claudio, 2008. "Impact of Microfinance on Schooling: Evidence from Poor Rural Households in Bolivia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 2440-2455, November.
    14. Wydick, Bruce, 1999. "The Effect of Microenterprise Lending on Child Schooling in Guatemala," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(4), pages 853-869, July.
    15. Hulme, David & Shepherd, Andrew, 2003. "Conceptualizing Chronic Poverty," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 403-423, March.
    16. Edmonds, Eric V., 2006. "Child labor and schooling responses to anticipated income in South Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 386-414, December.
    17. Grosse, Melanie & Harttgen, Kenneth & Klasen, Stephan, 2008. "Measuring Pro-Poor Growth in Non-Income Dimensions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1021-1047, June.
    18. Shalina Susan MATHEW, 2015. "Falling female labour force participation in Kerala: Empirical evidence of discouragement?," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 154(4), pages 497-518, December.
    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. Hoai A. Duong & Hong S. Nghiem, 2022. "The impact of microfinance on poverty reduction in Vietnam: A dynamic panel‐data analysis," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(4), pages 405-422, December.

    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. Asadul Islam & Chongwoo Choe, 2013. "Child Labor And Schooling Responses To Access To Microcredit In Rural Bangladesh," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(1), pages 46-61, January.
    2. Maldonado, Jorge Higinio & Gonzalez-Vega, Claudio & Romero, Vivianne, 2003. "The Influence Of Microfinance On The Education Decisions Of Rural Households: Evidence From Bolivia," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 22067, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    3. Paolo Casini & Lore Vandewalle & Zaki Wahhaj, 2017. "Public Good Provision in Indian Rural Areas: The Returns to Collective Action by Microfinance Groups," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 31(1), pages 97-128.
    4. Edmonds, Eric V., 2008. "Child Labor," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 57, pages 3607-3709, Elsevier.
    5. Eric V. Edmonds & Norbert Schady, 2012. "Poverty Alleviation and Child Labor," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 100-124, November.
    6. Jean-Marie Baland & Timothée Demont & Rohini Somanathan, 2020. "Child Labor and Schooling Decisions among Self-Help Group Members in Rural India," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 69(1), pages 73-105.
    7. Jacobus Hoop & Patrick Premand & Furio Rosati & Renos Vakis, 2018. "Women’s economic capacity and children’s human capital accumulation," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 453-481, April.
    8. Björkman-Nyqvist, Martina, 2013. "Income shocks and gender gaps in education: Evidence from Uganda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 237-253.
    9. Behrman, Jere R., 2010. "Investment in Education Inputs and Incentives," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4883-4975, Elsevier.
    10. Kathryn Yount & John Maluccio & Jere Behrman & John Hoddinott & Alexis Murphy & Usha Ramakrishnan, 2013. "Parental Resources, Schooling Achievements, and Gender Schooling Gaps: Evidence of Change over 25 years in Rural Guatemala," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 32(4), pages 495-528, August.
    11. Kalliyil, Muneer & Sahoo, Soham, 2024. "Does Restricting Access to Credit Affect Learning Outcomes? Evidence from a Regulatory Shock to Microfinance in India," IZA Discussion Papers 17404, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Leonardo Becchetti & Pierluigi Conzo, 2014. "The effects of microfinance on child schooling: a retrospective approach," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 89-106, January.
    13. Fumagalli, Laura & Martin, Thomas, 2023. "Child labor among farm households in Mozambique and the role of reciprocal adult labor," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    14. Maldonado, Jorge H. & González-Vega, Claudio, 2008. "Impact of Microfinance on Schooling: Evidence from Poor Rural Households in Bolivia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 2440-2455, November.
    15. Bhuiya, Mohammad Monzur Morshed & Khanam, Rasheda & Rahman, Mohammad Mafizur & Nghiem, Son, 2019. "Microcredit participation and child schooling in rural Bangladesh: Evidence from a cross-sectional survey," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 293-301.
    16. Phan, Chung Thanh & Sun, Sizhong & Zhou, Zhang-Yue & Beg, Rabiul & Ramsawak, Richard, 2023. "Does productive microcredit improve rural children's education? Evidence from rural Vietnam," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    17. de Janvry, Alain & Finan, Frederico & Sadoulet, Elisabeth & Vakis, Renos, 2006. "Can conditional cash transfer programs serve as safety nets in keeping children at school and from working when exposed to shocks?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 349-373, April.
    18. Denis Cogneau & Rémi Jedwab, 2012. "Commodity Price Shocks and Child Outcomes: The 1990 Cocoa Crisis in Côte d'Ivoire," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(3), pages 507-534.
    19. Bratti, Massimiliano & Mendola, Mariapia, 2014. "Parental health and child schooling," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 94-108.
    20. Duryea, Suzanne & Lam, David & Levison, Deborah, 2007. "Effects of economic shocks on children's employment and schooling in Brazil," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 188-214, September.

    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:gam:jijfss:v:6:y:2018:i:1:p:16-:d:129793. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.