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Financial permeation as a role of microfinance: has microfinance actually been a viable financial intermediary for helping the poor?

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  • Takeshi Inoue
  • Shigeyuki Hamori

Abstract

This article represents a valuable contribution to the existing literature on the relationship between financial sector growth -- specifically, of microfinance institutions (MFIs) -- and poverty levels in developing countries. We propose a concept termed herein financial permeation to describe how expanding financial activity affects low-income households; just as water permeates dry sand, an increase in the use of and access to financial services may spread more money among the poor, meeting their credit needs and improving their levels of well-being. Another feature of the presented study is that it is among the first to apply the logit transformation to the poverty ratio, thereby eliminating some of the problems of standard regression models. We measure financial permeation by applying three indicators related to MFIs and use panel data for 76 developing countries from the period 1995 to 2008. We find that financial permeation has a statistically significant and robust effect on reducing the poverty ratio.

Suggested Citation

  • Takeshi Inoue & Shigeyuki Hamori, 2013. "Financial permeation as a role of microfinance: has microfinance actually been a viable financial intermediary for helping the poor?," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(20), pages 1567-1578, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:apfiec:v:23:y:2013:i:20:p:1567-1578
    DOI: 10.1080/09603107.2013.839859
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Mushtaq, Rizwan & Bruneau, Catherine, 2019. "Microfinance, financial inclusion and ICT: Implications for poverty and inequality," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    2. Kamel Bel hadj Miled & Jalel-Eddine Ben Rejeb, 2018. "Can Microfinance Help to Reduce Poverty? A Review of Evidence for Developing Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 9(2), pages 613-635, June.
    3. Samouel Beji, 2019. "Financial Openness and Income Inequality: Do Institutions matter for Africa?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(1), pages 104-114.
    4. Inoue, Takeshi & Hamori, Shigeyuki, 2013. "Financial Permeation and Economic Growth: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 53417, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Md Nur Alam Siddik, 2021. "Does Financial Permeation Induce Economic Growth? Evidence from SAARC Countries," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 22(4), pages 893-905, August.
    6. Md. Nur Alam Siddik & Tanveer Ahsan & Sajal Kabiraj, 2019. "Does Financial Permeation Promote Economic Growth? Some Econometric Evidence From Asian Countries," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(3), pages 21582440198, July.
    7. Madhu Sehrawat & A. K. Giri, 2018. "The impact of financial development, economic growth, income inequality on poverty: evidence from India," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 1585-1602, December.
    8. Chen, Rui & Hartarska, Valentina, 2018. "Are All Banking Crises the Same: Evidence from MFIs," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274227, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

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