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A Firm of One's Own: Experimental Evidence on Credit Constraints and Occupational Choice

Author

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  • Brudevold-Newman, Andrew

    (University of Maryland)

  • Honorati, Maddalena

    (World Bank)

  • Jakiela, Pamela

    (Williams College)

  • Ozier, Owen

    (Williams College)

Abstract

We conducted a randomized evaluation of two labor market interventions targeted to young women aged 18 to 19 in three of Nairobi's poorest neighborhoods. One treatment offered participants a bundled intervention designed to simultaneously relieve credit and human capital constraints; a second treatment provided women with an unrestricted cash grant, but no training or other support. Both interventions had economically large and statistically significant impacts on income over the medium-term (7 to 10 months after the end of the interventions), but these impacts dissipated in the second year after treatment. Our results are consistent with a model in which savings constraints prevent women from smoothing consumption after receiving large transfers – even in the absence of credit constraints, and when participants have no intention of remaining in entrepreneurship. We also show that participants hold remarkably accurate beliefs about the impacts of the treatments on occupational choice.

Suggested Citation

  • Brudevold-Newman, Andrew & Honorati, Maddalena & Jakiela, Pamela & Ozier, Owen, 2017. "A Firm of One's Own: Experimental Evidence on Credit Constraints and Occupational Choice," IZA Discussion Papers 10583, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10583
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    Cited by:

    1. Sinem Kilic Celik & M. Ayhan Kose & Franziska Ohnsorge, 2020. "Subdued Potential Growth: Sources and Remedies," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 2009, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    2. Blattman, Christopher & Dercon, Stefan & Franklin, Simon, 2022. "Impacts of industrial and entrepreneurial jobs on youth: 5-year experimental evidence on factory job offers and cash grants in Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    3. Edmonds, Eric & Theoharides, Caroline, 2020. "The short term impact of a productive asset transfer in families with child labor: Experimental evidence from the Philippines," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    4. McIntosh, Craig & Zeitlin, Andrew, 2022. "Using household grants to benchmark the cost effectiveness of a USAID workforce readiness program," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    5. Stöterau, Jonathan, 2019. "Job training programs for youth in low-income countries," PEGNet Policy Briefs 15/2019, PEGNet - Poverty Reduction, Equity and Growth Network, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    6. Abhijit Banerjee & Paul Niehaus & Tavneet Suri, 2019. "Universal Basic Income in the Developing World," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 959-983, August.
    7. Craig McIntosh & Andrew Zeitlin, 2021. "Cash versus Kind: Benchmarking a Child Nutrition Program against Unconditional Cash Transfers in Rwanda," Papers 2106.00213, arXiv.org.
    8. Baird, Sarah & McIntosh, Craig & Özler, Berk, 2019. "When the money runs out: Do cash transfers have sustained effects on human capital accumulation?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 169-185.
    9. Omika Bhalla Saluja & Priyanka Singh & Harit Kumar, 2023. "Barriers and interventions on the way to empower women through financial inclusion: a 2 decades systematic review (2000–2020)," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    youth unemployment; microenterprises; entrepreneurship; credit constraints; cash grants; training; Africa; gender;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • M53 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Training
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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