Returns to capital in microenterprises: evidence from a field experiment

Suresh de Mel (), David McKenzie and Christopher Woodruff

No 4230, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Small and informal firms account for a large share of employment in developing countries. The rapid expansion of microfinance services is based on the belief that these firms have productive investment opportunities and can enjoy high returns to capital if given the opportunity. However, measuring the return to capital is complicated by unobserved factors such as entrepreneurial ability and demand shocks, which are likely to be correlated with capital stock. The authors use a randomized experiment to overcome this problem and to measure the return to capital for the average microenterprise in their sample, regardless of whether they apply for credit. They accomplish this by providing cash and equipment grants to small firms in Sri Lanka, and measuring the increase in profits arising from this exogenous (positive) shock to capital stock. After controlling for possible spillover effects, the authors find the average real return to capital to be 5.7 percent a month, substantially higher than the market interest rate. They then examine the heterogeneity of treatment effects to explore whether missing credit markets or missing insurance markets are the most likely cause of the high returns. Returns are found to vary with entrepreneurial ability and with measures of other sources of cash within the household, but not to vary with risk aversion or uncertainty.

Keywords: Economic Theory&Research; Investment and Investment Climate; Microfinance; Small Scale Enterprise; Economic Growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-05-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-ent, nep-exp and nep-mfd
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (40)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Returns to Capital in Microenterprises: Evidence from a Field Experiment (2009)
Journal Article: Returns to Capital in Microenterprises: Evidence from a Field Experiment (2008)
Working Paper: Returns to Capital in Microenterprises: Evidence from a Field Experiment (2007)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4230

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