address: Politických vězňů 7, 111 21 Prague 1, Czech Republic Since its birth in 1970s microfinance has been growing rapidly with the aim to lift people out of poverty and promote economic growth. Its role and importance has been amplified amidst the global financial crisis when trust into formal banking is shaken. Despite global recognition and popularity of microfinance there is mixed evidence of its net benefits and very limited work on its contribution to financial intermediation and economic growth. This paper first, identifies and discusses possible transmission channels for microfinance and second, establishes the choice of appropriate methodology for robust empirical test. Adapted for panel data the Arellano-Bond (1991) technique allows for the Granger-Causality type test to reveal the direction of causality and overcome endogeneity issue. The main purpose of the estimation is to check whether microfinance matters -matters for financial sector development and economic growth. JEL Classifications: G15, G21, O16, O57
Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. The Importance of Geographic Access for the Impact of Microfinance Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may AbstractThe geographic distance between a household and financial institutions may constitute a significant obstacle to achieving the benefits of modern financial institutions. We measure the impact of improved distance-related access to microcredits in Uzbekistan. Residents living closer to microfinance institutions are propensity score matched to those further away using both household and village characteristics. Households located closer to microfinance institutions have larger businesses in terms of income, profits and employees than similar households located further away. Similarly, they spend more on most forms of consumption and have greater savings.JEL-Code: O160, C340.
After five decades of rapid expansion of microfinance worldwide, little is known about its aggregate effects and whether the “microfinance promise” of poverty reduction holds at the macro level. Challenging questions have arisen. Here we explore the dynamic response of microfinance on economic growth, financial deepening and income inequality. Countries are grouped into three broad clusters (stable, moderate and poor) based on macro‐institutional variables. Our results show that microfinance has a significant long‐term ability to affect the broader economy. However, the impact and dynamics of microfinance differ substantially across macro‐institutional environments. It grows in weaker environments, reaches its peak in developing economies, and then gradually “dies out” in more stable economies. While there is evidence of a positive impact of microfinance at the aggregate level, the response is different depending on whether countries are poor, moderately developed or economically stable. Once countries climb up the macro‐institutional “ladder,” microfinance can take a different shape and its relationship with other macroeconomic fundamentals can change. Our results indicate that microfinance has the strongest effect when the external environment is supportive and proactive; in weak environments, microfinance cannot grow sufficiently. Therefore, more attention should be given to supporting the socioeconomic dimensions of economies.
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