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EconPapers FAQ Archive maintainers FAQ Cookies at EconPapers Format for printing The RePEc blog The RePEc plagiarism page Microcredit and Survival Microenterprises: The Role of Market StructureP. V. ViswanathAdditional contact information P. V. Viswanath: Lubin School of Business, Pace University, 1 Pace Plaza, New York, NY 10038, USAIJFS, 2017, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-25Abstract:Poverty remains a pervasive problem all over the world, but the problem is worst in underdeveloped areas like Africa. While microfinance is supposed to address this problem through the promotion of viable businesses, it has not been very successful in helping survival microenterprises, i.e., businesses that the very poor with limited human capital have access to, in sectors with low barriers to entry and selling undifferentiated products. In this paper, I examine the role of market structure in mediating the impact of micro-lending to such survival enterprises. While there have been many evaluations of microfinance institutions (MFIs), there have been very few that look at market conditions as an input into the success of micro-lending. My theoretical analysis suggests that when introducing an extensive program of microcredit in undeveloped and relatively isolated rural areas, it is important to look at how the market structure mediates the impact of the provision of loans on the demand and supply for the end-product or service. I present some empirical evidence, which provides partial confirmation that MFIs are not currently taking these considerations into account.Keywords: microfinance; value chain; market structure; economic development (search for similar items in EconPapers)JEL-codes: F2 F3 F41 F42 G1 G2 G3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)Date: 2017References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1) Track citations by RSS feedDownloads: (external link) -7072/6/1/1/pdf (application/pdf) -7072/6/1/1/ (text/html)Related works:This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/TextPersistent link: :gam:jijfss:v:6:y:2017:i:1:p:1-:d:124183Access Statistics for this articleIJFS is currently edited by Ms. Avy GuoMore articles in IJFS from MDPIBibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager (Obfuscate( 'mdpi.com', 'indexing' )). var addthis_config = "data_track_clickback":true; var addthis_share = url:" :gam:jijfss:v:6:y:2017:i:1:p:1-:d:124183"Share This site is part of RePEc and all the data displayed here is part of the RePEc data set. Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute. Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to Obfuscate( 'oru.se', 'econpapers' ). EconPapers is hosted by the Örebro University School of Business.
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