IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/kob/dpaper/dp2010-33.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Microfinance and Poverty -A Macro Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Katsushi S. Imai

    (Economics, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester (UK) and RIEB, Kobe University (Japan))

  • Raghav Gaiha

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) and Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi (India))

  • Ganesh Thapa

    (International Fund for Agricultural Development, Italy)

  • Samuel Kobina Annim

    (Economics, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, UK)

Abstract

Building on the recent literature on finance, growth and hunger, we have examined the experience of Asian countries over the last five decades, using dynamic panel models. Although the results are mixed, depending on the specification and variables used, there is some evidence favouring a positive role of finance in growth of GDP and agricultural value added. While financial development reduces income inequality, the effects on hunger are not so robust. Although microfinance has considerable potential for ameliorating deprivation, the contraction of credit and risk aversion of investors, together with a faltering global recovery, underlie gloomy prospects for the poor in Asia.

Suggested Citation

  • Katsushi S. Imai & Raghav Gaiha & Ganesh Thapa & Samuel Kobina Annim, 2010. "Microfinance and Poverty -A Macro Perspective," Discussion Paper Series DP2010-33, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    • Handle: RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2010-33
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rieb.kobe-u.ac.jp/academic/ra/dp/English/DP2010-33.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2010
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dean Karlan & Jonathan Zinman, 2010. "Expanding Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(1), pages 433-464, January.
    2. Karlan, Dean S. & Zinman, Jonathan, 2009. "Expanding Microenterprise Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts in Manila," Center Discussion Papers 52600, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    3. Katsushi S. Imai & MD. Shafiul Azam, 2011. "Does Microfinance Reduce Poverty in Bangladesh? New Evidence from Household Panel Data," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(5), pages 633-653, October.
    4. Ahlin, Christian & Lin, Jocelyn & Maio, Michael, 2011. "Where does microfinance flourish? Microfinance institution performance in macroeconomic context," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 105-120, July.
    5. Foster, James & Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1984. "A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 761-766, May.
    6. Feigenberg, Benjamin & Field, Erica M. & Pande, Rohini, 2010. "Building Social Capital through Microfinance," Working Paper Series rwp10-019, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    7. Cull, Robert & Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli & Morduch, Jonathan, 2011. "Does Regulatory Supervision Curtail Microfinance Profitability and Outreach?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 949-965, June.
    8. Imai, Katsushi S. & Arun, Thankom & Annim, Samuel Kobina, 2010. "Microfinance and Household Poverty Reduction: New Evidence from India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(12), pages 1760-1774, December.
    9. Shaohua Chen & Martin Ravallion, 2010. "The Developing World is Poorer than We Thought, But No Less Successful in the Fight Against Poverty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(4), pages 1577-1625.
    10. Martin Ravallion & Shaohua Chen & Prem Sangraula, 2009. "Dollar a Day Revisited," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 23(2), pages 163-184, June.
    11. Robert Cull & Asli Demirguç-Kunt & Jonathan Morduch, 2007. "Financial performance and outreach: a global analysis of leading microbanks," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(517), pages 107-133, February.
    12. Morduch, Jonathan, 1999. "The role of subsidies in microfinance: evidence from the Grameen Bank," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 229-248, October.
    13. Patrick Honohan, 2004. "Financial Sector Policy and the Poor : Selected Findings and Issues," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14874.
    14. 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.
    15. World Bank, 2011. "World Development Indicators 2011," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2315.
    16. Hisako, KAI & Shigeyuki, HAMORI, 2009. "Microfinance and Inequality," MPRA Paper 17537, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Katsushi Imai & Raghav Gaiha & Ganesh Thapa, 2010. "Is the Millennium Development Goal on Poverty Still Achievable? The Role of Institutions, Finance and Openness," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(3), pages 309-337.
    18. P. Mosley, 2001. "Microfinance and Poverty in Bolivia," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(4), pages 101-132.
    19. World Bank, 2010. "World Development Indicators 2010," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4373.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña & Serrano-Cinca, Carlos, 2019. "20 years of research in microfinance: An information management approach," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 183-197.
    2. Asma Boussetta, 2022. "Microfinance, Poverty and Education," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 64(1), pages 86-108, March.
    3. 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.
    4. Karel Janda & Pavel Zetek, 2015. "Mikrofinanční revoluce: kontroverze a výzvy [Microfinance Revolution: Controversies and Challenges]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2015(1), pages 108-130.
    5. Simon Zaby, 2019. "Science Mapping of the Global Knowledge Base on Microfinance: Influential Authors and Documents, 1989–2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-21, July.
    6. Olga Gorelkina & Ioanna Grypari & Erin Hengel, 2019. "One strike and you’re out! The Master Lever’s effect on senatorial policy-making," Working Papers 201906, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    7. Dan Brockington & Nicola Banks, 2014. "Exploring the Success of BRAC Tanzania’s Microcredit Programme," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 20214, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    8. Janda, Karel & Zetek, Pavel, 2014. "Survey of Microfinance Controversies and Challenges," MPRA Paper 56657, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Sefa K. Awaworyi, 2014. "The Impact of Microfinance Interventions: A Meta-analysis," Monash Economics Working Papers 03-14, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    10. Supriya Garikipati & Rebecca J. Docherty & Penelope A. Phillips-Howard, 2019. "What’s the bleeding problem? Policy and attitudes towards sustainable menstrual hygiene materials in India," Working Papers 201907, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    11. Xiaohua Wang & Meilan Chen & Xi He & Fangfang Zhang, 2018. "Credit Constraint, Credit Adjustment, and Sustainable Growth of Farmers’ Income," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-15, November.
    12. Aggarwal, Raj & Goodell, John W. & Selleck, Lauren J., 2015. "Lending to women in microfinance: Role of social trust," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 55-65.
    13. Ranjula Bali Swain & Supriya Garikipati, 2019. "Microfinance in the Global South: Examining Evidence on Social Efficacy," Working Papers 201908, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    14. Shubhashis Gangopadhyay & S.K. Shanthi, 2012. "Governance Issues in Indian Microfinance," Chapters, in: James R. Barth & Chen Lin & Clas Wihlborg (ed.), Research Handbook on International Banking and Governance, chapter 36, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. James R. Barth & Chen Lin & Clas Wihlborg (ed.), 2012. "Research Handbook on International Banking and Governance," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14045.
    16. Aroosa Khan & Muhammad Shaukat Malik, 2020. "Micro-Financing: A Comparative Study of Bangladesh & Pakistan," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 10(3), pages 181-202, September.
    17. Ishraq Ahmed & Erick Kitenge, 2022. "Microfinance outreach and aggregate welfare," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(3), pages 652-669, April.
    18. de Quidt, Jonathan & Fetzer, Thiemo & Ghatak, Maitreesh, 2018. "Commercialization and the decline of joint liability microcredit," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 209-225.
    19. Katsushi S. Imai & Raghav Gaiha & Ganesh Thapa & Samuel Kobina Annim & Aditi Gupta, 2012. "Financial Performance of Microfinance Institutions-A Macroeconomic and Institutional Perspective," Discussion Paper Series DP2012-04, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    20. Janda, Karel & Zetek, Pavel, 2014. "Mikrofinanční Revoluce: Aktuální Kontroverze A Výzvy [Microfinance Revolution: Recent Controversies And Challenges]," MPRA Paper 54098, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Finance; Economic Development; Agriculture; Inequality; Poverty; Asia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    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:kob:dpaper:dp2010-33. 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: Office of Promoting Research Collaboration, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rikobjp.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.