A Firm of One's Own : Experimental Evidence on Credit Constraints and Occupational Choice

Brudevold-Newman, Andrew ; Honorati, Maddalena ; Jakiela, Pamela ; Ozier, Owen

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: access to finance;    credit constraints;    microfinance;    microenterprises;    youth jobs;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7977
RP-ID  :  WPS7977

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This study presents results from arandomized evaluation of two labor market interventionstargeted to young women aged 18 to 19 years in three ofNairobi's poorest neighborhoods. One treatment offeredparticipants a bundled intervention designed tosimultaneously relieve credit and human capital constraints;a second treatment provided women with an unrestricted cashgrant, but no training or other support. Both interventionshad economically large and statistically significant impactson income over the medium term (7 to 10 months after the endof the interventions), but these impacts dissipated in thesecond year after treatment. The results are consistent witha model in which savings constraints prevent women fromsmoothing consumption after receiving large transfers --even in the absence of credit constraints, and whenparticipants have no intention of remaining inentrepreneurship. The study also shows that participantshold remarkably accurate beliefs about the impacts of thetreatments on occupational choice