IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hit/hitcei/2012-05.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Failure vs. Displacement: Why an Innovative Anti-Poverty Program Showed No Net Impact

Author

Listed:
  • Morduch, Jonathan
  • Ravi, Shamika
  • Bauchet, Jonathan

Abstract

We present results from a randomized trial of an innovative anti-poverty program in India. Instead of a safety net, the program provides “ultra-poor” households with inputs to create a new livelihood and attain economic independence. We find no statistically significant evidence of lasting net impact on consumption, income or asset accumulation. The main impact was the re-optimization of time use: sharp gains in income from the new livelihood were fully offset by lower earnings from wage labor. The result highlights how the existence of alternative economic options shapes net impacts and external validity.

Suggested Citation

  • Morduch, Jonathan & Ravi, Shamika & Bauchet, Jonathan, 2012. "Failure vs. Displacement: Why an Innovative Anti-Poverty Program Showed No Net Impact," CEI Working Paper Series 2012-05, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    • Handle: RePEc:hit:hitcei:2012-05
    Note: December 2012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/hermes/ir/re/28432/wp2012-5.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James J. Heckman & Vytlacil, Edward J., 2007. "Econometric Evaluation of Social Programs, Part II: Using the Marginal Treatment Effect to Organize Alternative Econometric Estimators to Evaluate Social Programs, and to Forecast their Effects in New," Handbook of Econometrics, in: J.J. Heckman & E.E. Leamer (ed.), Handbook of Econometrics, edition 1, volume 6, chapter 71, Elsevier.
    2. repec:cep:stieop:43 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Anirudh Krishna & Meri Poghosyan & Narayan Das, 2012. "How Much Can Asset Transfers Help the Poorest? Evaluating the Results of BRAC's Ultra-Poor Programme (2002--2008)," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(2), pages 254-267, May.
    4. Hunt Allcott, 2012. "Site Selection Bias in Program Evaluation," NBER Working Papers 18373, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Mallick, Debdulal, 2009. "How effective is a Big Push to the Small? Evidence from a Quasi-random Experiment," MPRA Paper 22824, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. M. Shahe Emran & Stephen C. Smith & Virginia Robano, 2009. "Assessing the Frontiers of Ultra-Poverty Reduction: Evidence from CFPR/TUP, an Innovative Program in Bangladesh," Working Papers 2009-06, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    7. Jonathan Morduch, 1999. "The Microfinance Promise," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(4), pages 1569-1614, December.
    8. Jishnu Das & Stefan Dercon & James Habyarimana & Pramila Krishnan & Karthik Muralidharan & Venkatesh Sundararaman, 2013. "School Inputs, Household Substitution, and Test Scores," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 29-57, April.
    9. Oriana Bandiera & Robin Burgess & Narayan Das & Selim Gulesci & Imran Rasul & Munshi Sulaiman, 2013. "Can Basic Entrepreneurship Transform the Economic Lives of the Poor?," STICERD - Economic Organisation and Public Policy Discussion Papers Series 043, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    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. Kraay, Aart & McKenzie, David, 2014. "Do poverty traps exist ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6835, The World Bank.
    2. Sayantan Ghosal & Smarajit Jana & Anandi Mani & Sandip Mitra & Sanchari Roy, 2022. "Sex Workers, Stigma, and Self-Image: Evidence from Kolkata Brothels," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(3), pages 431-448, May.
    3. Francisco J. Buera & Joseph P. Kaboski & Yongseok Shin, 2015. "Entrepreneurship and Financial Frictions: A Macrodevelopment Perspective," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 409-436, August.
    4. Argent, Jonathan & Augsburg, Britta & Rasul, Imran, 2014. "Livestock asset transfers with and without training: Evidence from Rwanda," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 19-39.
    5. Francisco J. Buera & Joseph P. Kaboski & Yongseok Shin, 2014. "Macro-perspective on Asset Grants Programs: Occupational and Wealth Mobility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 159-164, May.
    6. Francisco J. Buera & Joseph P. Kaboski & Yongseok Shin, 2020. "Taking Stock of the Evidence on Microfinancial Interventions," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 102(2), pages 173-202, May.
    7. Buvinic, Mayra & Furst-Nichols, Rebecca, 2014. "Promoting women's economic empowerment : what works ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7087, The World Bank.

    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. Robert Cull & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Jonathan Morduch, 2014. "Banks and Microbanks," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 46(1), pages 1-53, August.
    2. Johnson, Nancy L. & Kovarik, Chiara & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Njuki, Jemimah & Quisumbing, Agnes, 2016. "Gender, Assets, and Agricultural Development: Lessons from Eight Projects," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 295-311.
    3. Misha, F.A. & Raza, W.A. & Ara, J. & Van de Poel, E., 2014. "How far does a big push really push?," ISS Working Papers - General Series 77199, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    4. Das, Narayan & Yasmin, Rabeya & Ara, Jinnat & Kamruzzaman, Md. & Davis, Peter & Behrman, Julia A. & Roy, Shalini & Quisumbing, Agnes R., 2013. "How do intrahousehold dynamics change when assets are transferred to women? Evidence from BRAC’s Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction—Targeting the Ultra Poor program in Bangladesh:," IFPRI discussion papers 1317, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Roy, Shalini & Ara, Jinnat & Das, Narayan & Quisumbing, Agnes R., 2015. "“Flypaper effects” in transfers targeted to women: Evidence from BRAC's “Targeting the Ultra Poor” program in Bangladesh," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 1-19.
    6. Conner Mullally & Mayra Rivas & Travis McArthur, 2021. "Using Machine Learning to Estimate the Heterogeneous Effects of Livestock Transfers," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(3), pages 1058-1081, May.
    7. Gutiérrez-Romero, Roxana & Ahamed, Mostak, 2021. "COVID-19 response needs to broaden financial inclusion to curb the rise in poverty," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    8. Junyon Im & Sunny Sun, 2015. "Profits and outreach to the poor: The institutional logics of microfinance institutions," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 95-117, March.
    9. Lucia Dalla Pellegrina & Giorgio Di Maio & Paolo Landoni & Emanuele Rusinà, 2021. "Money management and entrepreneurial training in microfinance: impact on beneficiaries and institutions," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 38(3), pages 1049-1085, October.
    10. Tahir Andrabi & Jishnu Das & Asim Ijaz Khwaja, 2017. "Report Cards: The Impact of Providing School and Child Test Scores on Educational Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(6), pages 1535-1563, June.
    11. Marta Favara & Catherine Porter & Tassew Woldehanna, 2019. "Smarter through social protection? Evaluating the impact of Ethiopia’s safety-net on child cognitive abilities," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(1), pages 79-96, January.
    12. Heckman, James J. & Urzúa, Sergio, 2010. "Comparing IV with structural models: What simple IV can and cannot identify," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 156(1), pages 27-37, May.
    13. Simon Cornée, 2014. "Soft Information and Default Prediction in Cooperative and Social Banks," Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises, vol. 3(1), pages 89-103, June.
    14. Hailu Abebe Wondirad, 2022. "Interest rates in microfinance: What is a fair interest rate when we lend to the poor?," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 4537-4548, December.
    15. M. Kabir Hassan, 2002. "The Microfinance Revolution and the Grameen Bank Experience in Bangladesh," Financial Markets, Institutions & Instruments, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(3), pages 205-265, August.
    16. Abu S. Shonchoy, 2015. "Seasonal Migration and Microcredit During Agricultural Lean Seasons: Evidence from Northwest Bangladesh," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 53(1), pages 1-26, March.
    17. Munshi Sulaiman & Mehnaz Rabbani & Vivek A. Prakash, 2010. "Impact Assessment of CFPR/TUP: A Descriptive Analysis Based on 2002-2005 Panel Data," Working Papers id:2567, eSocialSciences.
    18. Dawood MAMOON, 2017. "Can micro credit schemes be introduced by formal banking sector?," Journal of Economics Library, KSP Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 359-371, September.
    19. Luminita Postelnicu & Niels Hermes, 2018. "Microfinance Performance and Social Capital: A Cross-Country Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 427-445, December.
    20. Kieran Donaghue, 2004. "Microfinance in the Asia Pacific," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 18(1), pages 41-61, May.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
    • J4 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:hit:hitcei:2012-05. 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: Reiko Suzuki (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cehitjp.html .

    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.