Credit Programmes for the Poor and Seasonality in Rural Bangladesh
研究了孟加拉国无地家庭通过团体信贷从事自雇活动，如何影响家庭消费和男女劳动供给的季节性模式，发现信贷有助于平滑淡季消费，且贫困程度是参与项目的主要动因。
This article examines the effect of group-based credit used to finance self-employment by landless households in Bangladesh on the seasonal pattern of household consumption and male and female labour supply. This credit can help smooth seasonal consumption by financing new productive activities whose income flows and time demands do not seasonally covary with the income generated by existing agricultural activities. The results, based upon 1991/92 survey data, strongly suggest that an important motivation for credit programme participation is the need to smooth the seasonal pattern of consumption and male labour supply. It is only the extent of lean season consumption poverty that selects household into these programmes. In addition, the largest female and male effects of credit on household consumption are during the lean season.