Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 3 of 3
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Effect Of Social Capital On Group Loan Repayment: Evidence From Field Experiments, Alessandra Cassar, Luke Crowley, Bruce Wydick
The Effect Of Social Capital On Group Loan Repayment: Evidence From Field Experiments, Alessandra Cassar, Luke Crowley, Bruce Wydick
Economics
An important question to microfinance is the relevance of existing social capital in target communities to the performance of group lending. This research presents evidence from field experiments in South Africa and Armenia, in which subjects participate in trust and microfinance games. We present evidence that personal trust between group members and peer homogeneity are more important to group loan repayment than general societal trust or acquaintanceship between members. We also find some evidence of reciprocity: those who have been helped by other group members in the past are more likely to contribute in the future.
Grandma Was Right: Why Cohabitation Undermines Relational Happiness, But Is Increasing Anyway, Bruce Wydick
Grandma Was Right: Why Cohabitation Undermines Relational Happiness, But Is Increasing Anyway, Bruce Wydick
Economics
This paper uses a game theoretic model to explain empirical research which has revealed higher relational satisfaction among married couples than cohabiting couples, as well as among married couples who did not cohabit before marriage. Despite these findings, in recent decades cohabitation rates have dramatically increased in both Europe and the United States. Instrumental variables estimations on data from 28 industrialized countries and 50 U.S. states show cohabitation strongly correlated with increases in women’s labor force participation, where a 10 percent increase in women’s labor force participation results in a 6.4 to 14.6 percent increase in cohabitation.
Credit Information Systems In Less Developed Countries: A Test With Microfinance In Guatemala, Jill Luoto, Craig Mcintosh, Bruce Wydick
Credit Information Systems In Less Developed Countries: A Test With Microfinance In Guatemala, Jill Luoto, Craig Mcintosh, Bruce Wydick
Economics
Increases in formal sector lending among the poor have created a need for credit information systems that provide potential lenders both positive and negative data about borrowers. In this paper we provide an overview of the development and use of credit information systems in industrialized and developing countries. The paper subsequently presents a test of the effects of a newly implemented credit information system using fixed effects estimation on panel data from Guatemala. Results indicate that improved screening effects from the system caused the level of portfolio arrears to decline between 2 and 3.5 percentage points six months after it …