Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: The Effects of Micro-Finance Access on Economic and Social Outcomes of Low Income Women

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Studies of the effects of access to micro-finance on economic and social outcomes for women have mainly focused on short-term effects. Moreover, there are few empirical studies that establish a causal effect of microcredit credit access on women's empowerment, economic outcomes and other social outcomes. This proposed research project will use field experiments to study the long-term effects of micro-finance access on a number of outcomes for low income women. The study will be based on a follow-up survey of low income women in a 2012 experimental study of access to micro-credit. The study will gather and analyze information about health, and education as well as women's empowerment (decision making power within their households) seven years after their initial access to micro-credit. This will be one of the first experimental studies of microcredit that focuses on long run outcomes rather than on short-run outcomes. The evidence would help determine whether microcredit provision can be used as an effective anti-poverty program. The results of this research project will provide important inputs into the formulation of policies to reduce poverty in the U.S. and around the world. In contrast to earlier studies that find positive and significant short-run effects of microcredit on investments in education, health and women's decision-making power, recent randomized control trial (RCT) studies find no such effects. An important question is whether these differences in outcomes are due to differences in time frames or differences in methodologies. This research project will investigate the long-term effects of micro-credit access on investment in health, education, and three aspects of women empowerment---economic, demographic, and psychological---women empowerment. It will conduct an RCT follow-up of a 2012 study of the effects of microcredit access among low income women on their socioeconomic outcomes. This project will contribute to our understanding of the linkage between women's access to credit and improvements in health and educational outcomes as well as women?s empowerment. The results of this research project will contribute to the US's ability to craft effective policies to reduce poverty among low income populations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.