Micro-Finance and Poverty : Evidence Using Panel Data from Bangladesh

Khandker, Shahidur R.

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: AGGREGATE LEVEL;    ANTIPOVERTY PROGRAMS;    ASSET VARIABLES;    BENEFICIARIES;    BORROWING;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2945
RP-ID  :  WPS2945

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Micro-finance supports mainly informalactivities that often have low market demand. It may be thushypothesized that the aggregate poverty impact ofmicro-finance in an economy with low economic growth ismodest or nonexistent. The observed borrower-level povertyimpact is then a result of income redistribution orshort-run income generation. The author addresses thesequestions using household level panel data from Bangladesh.The findings confirm that micro-finance benefits the poorestand has sustained impact in reducing poverty among programparticipants. It also has positive spillover impact,reducing poverty at the village level. But the effect ismore pronounced in reducing extreme rather than moderate poverty.