Repayment Performance in Microcredit Programs: Theory and Evidence

Social Collateral and Repayment Performance: Evidence from Islamic Micro Finance

I n this study we designed to test the remarkable repayment performance of Akhuwat in Pakistan; the most successful Islamic Microfinance Institution (IMFI), which offers interest-free loans in order to improve the quality of life and alleviate poverty. The model of Akhuwat is based on Muakhaat (brotherhood) and Qard-e-Hasan (offering financial assi...

Microcredit, family planning programs, and contraceptive behavior: evidence from a field experiment in Ethiopia.

The impact of community-based family planning programs and access to credit on contraceptive use, fertility, and family size preferences has not been established conclusively in the literature. We provide additional evidence on the possible effect of such programs by describing the results of a randomized field experiment whose main purpose was to increase the use of contraceptive methods in ru...

Repayment Frequency and Default in Microfinance: Evidence from India

In stark contrast to bank debt contracts, most micro-finance contracts require that repayments start nearly immediately after loan disbursement and occur weekly thereafter. Even though economic theory suggests that a more flexible repayment schedule would benefit clients and potentially improve their repayment capacity, micro-finance practitioners argue that he fiscal discipline imposed by freq...

Democratizing Higher Education: Defending & Extending Income Based Repayment Programs

Interdependencies in Micro- Credit Group: Evidence from Repayment Data*

We use repayment data from Grameen Bank groups to study mutual dependence in behavior among participants. Such dependence is a measure of group cohesion, and is interpreted as evidence for the existence of inter-connectedness among members at the group level. Results from a dynamic fixed-effects probit model demonstrate that individual repayment outcomes are significantly influenced by own lagg...