Credit Elasticities in Less-Developed Economies: Implications for Microfinance
通过南非消费贷款机构的随机试验，检验穷人是否对利率不敏感，发现需求曲线向下倾斜，且贷款规模对期限变化比利率变化更敏感，这对小额金融机构是否应提高利率以减少补贴有重要启示。
Policymakers often prescribe that microfinance institutions increase interest rates to eliminate their reliance on subsidies. This strategy makes sense if the poor are rate insensitive: then microlenders increase profitability (or achieve sustainability) without reducing the poor's access to credit. We test the assumption of price inelastic demand using randomized trials conducted by a consumer lender in South Africa. The demand curves are downward sloping, and steeper for price increases relative to the lender's standard rates. We also find that loan size is far more responsive to changes in loan maturity than to changes in interest rates, which is consistent with binding liquidity constraints.