LSE

LJE

Firms, Entrepreneurship & Microfinance

Microcredit and Microsaving for Microenterprises in Pakistan

Project members:
Uzma Afzal, University of Nottingham,
Giovanna d’Adda, University of Milan,
Marcel Fafchamps, Stanford University,
Simon Quinn, University of Oxford and
Farah Said, Lahore University of Management Sciences

This study used a Randomized Control Trial in 4 districts of Punjab to compare the effectiveness of micro-savings and micro-loans as means for households to manage risk and liquidity. The study was being conducted in collaboration with the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) funded by the Department for International Development (DfID) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The study explores the role of commitment and reminders in product takeup and repayment. This project builds on existing research and pilots funded by the International Growth Centre (IGC) with a sample of microfinance clients of NRSP. Results indicate that for microfinance clients, savings and credit products are often substitutes, satisfying the same underlying demand for a regular schedule of deposits and a lump-sum withdrawal (AEA RCT Registry, published in The Economic Journal: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ecoj.12512 and the working papers and article are available here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3383301; https://www.theigc.org/project/microcredit-and-microsaving-for-microenterprises-in-pakistan/;    https://www.povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/womens-take-credit-versus-commitment-savings-products-rural-pakistan)