Asset-Based Microfinance for Microenterprises: Evidence from Pakistan
通过田野实验，向巴基斯坦的微型信贷客户提供四倍于常规借款限额的商业资产融资，发现显著且持久的利润和消费增长，并构建动态结构模型分析福利改善潜力。
We run a field experiment offering graduated microcredit clients the opportunity to finance a business asset worth four times their usual borrowing limit. We implement this using a hire-purchase contract; our control group is offered a zero interest loan at the usual borrowing limit. We find large, significant, and persistent effects: treated microenterprise owners run larger businesses with higher profits; consequently, household consumption increases, particularly on food and children’s education. A dynamic structural model with nonconvex capital adjustment costs rationalizes our results and allows counterfactual analysis; this highlights the potential for welfare improvements through large capital injections that are financially sustainable.