This post originally appeared on NextBillion.net.







The first post in our series comes from Michael Goodwin, Project Coordinator for the Culture & Incentives Project, which, distinctively, spans several countries (Ghana, India, Philippines, Peru).
Read on:
Surprising Results of Microfinance
In a recent article in Science, Dean Karlan and Jonathan Zinman find that small loans in the Philippines helped households manage risk, but did nothing for business growth, and actually seemed to reduce subjective wellbeing.


The emerging answer seems to be similar to the answer to the question: "Does Aid Work?": It depends.
We just finished up the first panel session at Microfinance Impact 2010, moderated by Jonathan Morduch, and with presentations by Dean Karlan (Yale and IPA), Abhijit Banerjee (MIT), Esther Duflo (MIT), Carlos Danel (Compartamos Banco) and Tanguy Bernard (Agence Française de Développement).

From Ghana, Suvojit Chattopadhyay writes:
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