TY - BOOK ID - 136028307 TI - Estimating the Long-Run Impact of Microcredit Programs on Household Income and Net Worth AU - Woutersen, Tiemen AU - Khandker, Shahidur R. PY - 2014 PB - Washington, D.C., The World Bank, DB - UniCat KW - Access to Finance KW - Bounds Analysis KW - Debt Markets KW - Finance and Financial Sector Development KW - Household Income KW - Microcredit Programs KW - Poverty Monitoring & Analysis KW - Poverty Reduction KW - Poverty Traps KW - Randomized Controlled Trials KW - Rural Poverty Reduction KW - Social Development UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:136028307 AB - This paper investigates whether the utilization of microcredit programs has a significant impact on the income and net worth of the participants. Several micro finance institutes are optimistic on the beneficial effects of microcredit programs. Others describe microcredit with interest rates in excess of 20 percent as a poverty trap. This paper uses more than 20 years of panel data on households in Bangladesh to estimate bounds on the causal effects of microcredit programs. The analysis rejects the hypothesis that these microcredit programs are a poverty trap. Moreover, the paper finds moderately positive effects of such programs. ER -