Labelled Loans and Human Capital Investments

Britta Augsburg, Bet Caeyers, Sara Giunti, Bansi Malde and Susanna Smets
Additional contact information
Bet Caeyers: Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies
Susanna Smets: Institute for Fiscal Studies

No W20/20, IFS Working Papers from Institute for Fiscal Studies

Abstract: Making lumpy human capital investments is difficult, particularly since returns may accrue with a significant time lag. Lack of commitment impedes savings and diverts funds from intended investments. We draw on a cluster randomised controlled trial in rural India to provide the first evidence that labelled microcredit is effective in increasing take-up of a lumpy human capital investment, a safe toilet. Testing predictions from a theoretical model provides novel evidence that loan labels influence household borrowing and investment decisions. Not all loans are used for sanitation investments, suggesting that loan labels offer a soft commitment incentive.

Date: 2020-07-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/WP202020-Labelled-L ... ital-Investments.pdf (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 404 Not Found (https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/WP202020-Labelled-Loans-and-Human-Capital-Investments.pdf [302 Found]--> https://ifs.org.uk/uploads/WP202020-Labelled-Loans-and-Human-Capital-Investments.pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Labeled loans and human capital investments (2023)
Working Paper: Labeled loans and human capital investments (2023)
Working Paper: Labelled loans and human capital investments (2021)
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:ifs:ifsewp:20/20

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
The Institute for Fiscal Studies 7 Ridgmount Street LONDON WC1E 7AE

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IFS Working Papers from Institute for Fiscal Studies The Institute for Fiscal Studies 7 Ridgmount Street LONDON WC1E 7AE. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emma Hyman ().