List randomization for sensitive behavior: An application for measuring use of loan proceeds

Dean Karlan and Jonathan Zinman

Journal of Development Economics, 2012, vol. 98, issue 1, 71-75

Abstract: Policymakers and microfinance institutions (MFIs) often claim to target poor entrepreneurs who then invest loan proceeds in their businesses. Typically in non-research settings these claims are assessed using readily available but unverified self-reports from client loan applications. Alternatively, independent surveyors could directly elicit how borrowers spent their loan proceeds. That too, however, could suffer from deliberate misreporting. We use data from the Peru and the Philippines in which independent surveyors elicited loan use both directly (i.e., by asking how individuals spent their loan proceeds) and indirectly (i.e., through a list-randomization technique that allows individuals to hide their answer from the surveyor). We find that direct elicitation under-reports the non-enterprise uses of loan proceeds.

Keywords: Survey methodology; Microcredit loan use; List randomization; Direct elicitation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C83 C89 G21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (80)

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Working Paper: List Randomization for Sensitive Behavior: An Application for Measuring Use of Loan Proceeds (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:98:y:2012:i:1:p:71-75

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2011.08.006

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