Is It Who You Are or What You Get? Comparing the Impacts of Loans and Grants for Microenterprise Development
通过随机实验比较贷款、现金赠款和实物赠款对微型企业的影响，发现所有方式都能同等提高收入，但成功者特征相似，表明企业主自身特质比支持类型更重要。
Is the type of financial support provided to businesses more important than which businesses receive it? Loans and grants can lead to differences in optimal investments and in scope for moral hazard. We randomize 3,293 business loan applicants into receiving a loan, cash grant, in-kind grant, or nothing. All treatments equally increase income, yet there are large differences within a treatment group with impacts concentrated at the top of the distribution. Those who succeed with loans are observationally equivalent to those who succeed with grants, showcasing that owner heterogeneity is more important than the type of support received in microenterprise development.