What drives profits in savings groups? Bayesian data mining evidence from the SAVIX database

Rolando Gonzales (), Bert d'Espallier and Roy Mersland
Additional contact information
Roy Mersland: UIA - University of Agder

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Savings groups provide savings and loans to low-income individuals in rural and periurban areas. This study applies Bayesian data mining methods to a database of more than 200,000 savings groups with the aim of identifying which micro, meso, and macro factors are associated to profit generation in the groups. The results show that the facilitation mechanisms of development agencies and the macro-economic environment are more important than internal group dynamics for profit generation. The findings suggest that the focus of development agencies on bottom-of-the-pyramid groups creates wealth for communities in countries with a more dispersed and rural population. However, the generation of profits depends on the graduation of groups and the facilitation model implemented by a development agency.

Keywords: C11; Savings groups; development agencies; Bayesian model averaging JEL Classification: G21; O12; Savings groups development agencies Bayesian model averaging JEL Classification: G21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05221036v1
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Review of Development Finance, 2021, 11 (2), pp.39-57

Downloads: (external link)
https://hal.science/hal-05221036v1/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
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:hal:journl:hal-05221036

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().