Taking Stock of the Evidence on Microfinancial Interventions

Buera, Francisco J.; Kaboski, Joseph P.; Shin, Yongseok

doi:10.20955/r.102.173-202

Journal Article

Taking Stock of the Evidence on Microfinancial Interventions

Abstract: We review the empirical evidence on microfinance and asset grants to the ultra poor or microentrepreneurs and use quantitative economic theory to account for this evidence. Properly executed, these interventions can help segments of the population increase their income and consumption, but neither literature gives much reason to believe that such interventions can lead to wide-scale, transformative impacts akin to escaping aggregate poverty traps.

JEL Classification: O16;

https://doi.org/10.20955/r.102.173-202