Premium
Effects of microcredit and other loans on female empowerment in Bangladesh: the borrower's gender influences intra‐household resource allocation
Author(s) -
Porter Maria
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.29
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1574-0862
pISSN - 0169-5150
DOI - 10.1111/agec.12225
Subject(s) - empowerment , microfinance , women's empowerment , instrumental variable , economics , collateral , population , demographic economics , gender and development , bargaining power , labour economics , business , economic growth , demography , finance , microeconomics , sociology , econometrics , social transformation , social change
This article examines microcredit's effectiveness in empowering women borrowers in rural Bangladesh. It does so by examining how gender‐specific borrowing activities influence household expenditures which are either specifically of interest to men or women, and by examining the effects of all loans rather than only those provided by microcredit organizations. The article uses a quasi‐experimental design to identify the effects of borrowing by men and women by using an original combination of panel data and instrumental variables on subsamples of the surveyed population. It finds that the borrower's gender affects how households allocate their resources to different expenditure items and assets that are valued differently by men and women. In all, the findings suggest that providing greater credit access to women may improve their household bargaining positions.