Re-Evaluating Microfinance : Evidence from Propensity Score Matching
This paper evaluates effectiveness of microfinance using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method applied to data collected in a recent randomized control trial. This method allows one to answer an additional set of questions not answered by the orig...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/707891492451043846/Re-evaluating-microfinance-evidence-from-propensity-score-matching http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26466 |
| Summary: | This paper evaluates effectiveness of
microfinance using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method
applied to data collected in a recent randomized control
trial. This method allows one to answer an additional set of
questions not answered by the original study and provide
more nuanced evidence by comparing Microfinance Institution
(MFI) borrowers to those without any loans and those with
prior loans from other sources. It is argued that this
unique setting with two comparison groups allows us to shed
light on the unobservable entrepreneurial spirit bias and
provides upper and lower bounds on the true microfinance
impact. The results suggest that microfinance can make a
modest difference for some households in several expenditure categories. |
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