Factors impeding credit use in small‐farm households in Bolivia
基于调查数据，分析了阻碍玻利维亚小农户使用正规信贷的因素，包括经营规模、交易成本、语言障碍和低市场整合度，并指出降低交易成本是扩大信贷覆盖的关键。
Abstract Sample survey data show few Bolivian small‐farm households using credit, but most would like to borrow from formal market institutions. A theoretical framework is developed to formulate testable hypotheses to identify factors that inhibit credit use. Major impediments to borrowing are scale of operations, as measured by amount of useable land, and borrower's transactions costs that arise from loan paperwork, use of Indian language, remoteness from market, little education and low degree of market integration. When farmers with these characteristics borrow they tend to use informal market sources because of the lower transactions costs compared to those of formal market lenders. The policy implication is if formal market lenders are to reach more farmers they must lower transactions costs. Notes Calvin J. Miller is an agricultural economist with the Mennonite Central Committee in Bolivia and a former research associate in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the Ohio State University. Jerry R. Ladman is Professor of Economics and Director, Center for Latin American Studies, Arizona State University.