Expanding credit access: Using randomized supply decisions to estimate the impacts

Dean Karlan and Jonathan Zinman

Natural Field Experiments from The Field Experiments Website

Abstract: Expanding access to commercial credit is a key ingredient of financial development strategies. There is less consensus on whether expanding access to consumer credit helps borrowers, particularly when loans are extended at high interest rates. Popular skepticism about "unproductive," "usurious" lending is fueled by research highlighting behavioral biases that may induce overborrowing. We estimate the impacts of expanding access to consumer credit at a 200% annual percentage rate (APR) using a field experiment and follow-up data collection. The randomly assigned marginal loans produced significant net benefits for borrowers across a wide range of outcomes. There is also some evidence that the loans were profitable.

Date: 2006
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Downloads: (external link)
http://s3.amazonaws.com/fieldexperiments-papers2/papers/00281.pdf

Related works:
Journal Article: Expanding Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts (2010)
Working Paper: Expanding Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts (2007)
Working Paper: Expanding Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts (2007)
Working Paper: Expanding Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions To Estimate the Impacts (2007)
Working Paper: Expanding Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts (2007)
Working Paper: Expanding Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts (2007)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:feb:natura:00281

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Natural Field Experiments from The Field Experiments Website
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Francesca Pagnotta ().