Appraising the Thailand Village Fund

R. Boonperm, Jirawan ; Haughton, Jonathan ; Khandker, Shahidur ; Rukumnuaykit, Pungpond

关键词: ACCESS TO CREDIT;    ACCOUNTING;    ADMINISTRATIVE COST;    ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS;    ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-5998
RP-ID  :  WPS5998

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The Thailand Village Fund is thesecond-largest microcredit scheme in the world. Nearly80,000 elected local Village Fund committees administerloans that reach 30 percent of all households. The value ofVillage Fund loans has remained steady since 2006, evenwithout new infusions of government funds, and loans godisproportionately to the poor. Based mainly on acustom-built survey of more than 3,000 Village Fundsconducted in 2010, this paper evaluates the performance ofVillage Funds, which it argues are best modeled asaltruistic, and do not appear to be subject to elitecapture. As expected, profit rates are difficult to model,but the regression analysis shows that loan recovery rates,total lending, credit ratings, and the proportion of loansgoing to the poor are all higher when a Village Fund borrowsadditional funds from a formal bank and on-lends tohouseholds, as was done by one in five Village Funds. Aneconomic analysis suggests that Village Fund benefits exceedthe costs. Most Village Funds are social rather thanfinancial intermediaries; they have little incentive to takerisks or to innovate, which explains why Village Fundlending has not kept pace with the growth of the Thai economy.