Ranjula Bali Swain

Does microfinance empower women? : Evidence from self-help groups in India

Microfinance programmes like the Self Help Bank Linkage Program in India have been increasingly promoted for their positive economic impact and the belief that they empower women. However, only a few studies rigorously examine the link between microfinance and women’s empowerment. This article contributes to this discussion by arguing that women’s empowerment takes place when women challenge the existing social norms and culture, to effectively improve their well‐being. It empirically validates this hypothesis by using quasi‐experimental household sample data collected for five states in India for 2000 and 2003. A general model is estimated by employing appropriate techniques to treat the ordinal variables in order to estimate the impact of the Self Help Group (SHG) on women’s empowerment for 2000 and 2003. The results strongly demonstrate that on average, there is a significant increase in the empowerment of women in the SHG members group. No such significant change is observed however, for the members of the control group. The elegance of the result lies in the fact that the group of SHG participants show clear evidence of a significant and higher empowerment, while allowing for the possibility that some members might have been more empowered than others.

Microfinance and Poverty Reduction in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam

One common solution to resolve poverty is providing microfinance to the poor. Microfinance has been claimed to positively impact the livelihoods of the poor through accumulation of social, human, financial, natural, and physical assets. This paper empirically examines if microfinance contributes to the reduction of poverty in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. Analysing household survey data collected in 2006, from Hoa An commune in the Mekong Delta area, it investigates if microfinance leads to accumulation of assets. It further investigates how poor women are enabled to adopt livelihood strategies that lead to poverty reduction. Information is collected by implementing a household survey. This is further supplemented with qualitative information from Participatory Rural Appraisal, interviews with key informants and focus group discussions with members and non-members of the microfinance programs in the area. The main findings suggest that the process of accumulation of assets, leads to creation of livelihoods that result in increased household income and poverty reduction.

Assessing the Effect of Microfinance on Vulnerability and Poverty among Low Income Households

Abstract We empirically investigate whether participation in the Indian Self Help Group (SHG) microfinance programme has helped reduced poverty and household vulnerability using cross-sectional SHG rural household survey data. The potential selection bias is eliminated by propensity score matching to estimate the average treatment on treated effect using nearest neighbour matching and a local linear regression algorithm. We find that vulnerability in SHG members is not significantly higher than in non-SHG members, even though the SHG members have a high incidence of poverty. However, vulnerability declines significantly for those that have been SHG members for more than one year. These results are found to be robust using sensitivity analysis and the Rosenbaum bounds method.

The demand and supply of credit for households

The demand and supply of credit in the rural credit markets is investigated in this article using household data from India. The aim is to study the effects of household, farm productive characteristics and the policy variables on the demand and supply of credit. A type 3 Tobit model is estimated which corrects for sample selection and endogeniety bias. In addition, a generalized Double Hurdle model is estimated where the information on the households access to credit is included to estimate the demand and supply of credit. The results suggest that the size of the operational holdings, net-wealth, dependency ratio, educational level of the household and the wages and output prices are important determinants of the demand and supply of credit for farm households. The Double Hurdle model confirms that the ‘size of land owned’ plays a crucial role in whether the household has access to a loan or not.

Factors empowering women in Indian self-help group programs

We evaluate the impact of economic and non-economic factors on women’s empowerment of Self-Help Group (SHG) members. We estimate a structural equation model (SEM) and correct for ordinality in the data to account for the impact of the latent factors on women’s empowerment. Our SEM results reveal that for the SHG members, the economic factor is the most effective in empowering women. Greater autonomy and social attitudes also have a significant women empowerment impact.

The impact of microfinance on factors empowering women : Differences in regional and delivery mechanisms in India's SHG programme

Abstract We examine how the impact on women’s empowerment varies with respect to the location and type of group linkage of the respondent. Using household survey data from five states in India, we correct for selection bias to estimate a structural equation model. Our results reveal that in the southern states of India empowerment of women takes place through economic factors. For the other states, we find a significant correlation between women’s empowerment and autonomy in women’s decision-making and network, communication and political participation respectively. We do not, however, find any differential causal impact of different delivery methods (linkage models).

The sustainable development oxymoron: quantifying and modelling the incompatibility of sustainable development goals

ABSTRACT In 2015, the UN adopted a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to eradicate poverty, establish socioeconomic inclusion and protect the environment. Critical voices such as the International Council for Science (ICSU), however, have expressed concerns about the potential incompatibility of the SDGs, specifically the incompatibility of socio-economic development and environmental sustainability. In this paper, we test, quantify and model the alleged inconsistency of SDGs. Our analyses show which SDGs are consistent and which are conflicting. We measure the extent of inconsistency and conclude that the SDG agenda will fail as a whole if we continue with business as usual. We further explore the nature of the inconsistencies using dynamical systems models, which reveal that the focus on economic growth and consumption as a means for development underlies the inconsistency. Our models also show that there are factors which can contribute to development (health programmes, government investment) on the one hand and ecological sustainability (renewable energy) on the other, without triggering the conflict between incompatible SDGs.

Are microfinance markets monopolistic

ABSTRACT Do microfinance institutions (MFIs) operate in a monopoly, monopolistic competition environment or are their revenues derived under perfect competition markets? We employ the Panzar–Rosse revenue test on a global panel data to assess the competitive environment in which MFIs of five selected countries operate: Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Peru and Philippines, over the period 2005–2009. We estimate the static and the dynamic revenue tests, with analyses of the interest rate and the return on assets. We control for microfinance-specific variables such as capital-assets-ratio, loans-assets and the size of the MFI. The analyses also account for the endogeneity problem by employing the fixed-effects two-stage least squares and the fixed-effects system generalized method of moments. Our results suggest that MFIs in Peru and India operate in a monopolistic environment. We also find weak evidence that the microfinance industry in Ecuador, Indonesia and Philippines may operate under perfect competition.

Growth, Water Resilience, and Sustainability: A DSGE Model Applied to South Africa

In this paper, we develop a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model to study how water resilience affects economic growth and dynamic welfare with special reference to South Africa. While water may become a limiting factor for future development in general, as a drought prone and water poor country with rapid population growth, South Africa may face more serious challenges for sustainable development. Analyzing the DSGE model, we conduct numerical simulations for different parameter configurations with varying discount rate, climate change scenario, and the degree of uncertainty in future precipitation. We find that with sufficient capital accumulation, development may still be sustainable despite increased future water scarcity and decreased long-run sustainable welfare. While stochastic variation in precipitation has a negative effect on water resilience and the expected dynamic welfare, the effect is mitigated by persistence in the precipitation pattern. With heavier time discounting and lower capital formation, however, the current welfare may not be sustained.

Competition in Microfinance: Does It Affect Performance, Portfolio Quality, and Capitalization?

Competition in Microfinance : Does it affect Performance, Portfolio quality and Capitalization?