Microfinance Impact Assessment
Microfinance impact assessment is the set of methods used to measure the causal effects of small loans, savings, and related financial services — long promoted as a tool against poverty — on borrowers' income, business activity, consumption, and empowerment. After two decades in which observational studies reported large gains, a wave of randomized evaluations from around 2010 onwards, exemplified by Banerjee, Duflo, Glennerster, and Kinnan's Hyderabad study with Spandana and Karlan and Zinman's randomised credit-scoring work, delivered a more sober and credible verdict.
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Sources
- Banerjee, A., Duflo, E., Glennerster, R., & Kinnan, C. (2015). The Miracle of Microfinance? Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 7(1), 22–53. DOI: 10.1257/app.20130533 ↗
- Karlan, D., & Zinman, J. (2011). Microcredit in Theory and Practice: Using Randomized Credit Scoring for Impact Evaluation. Science, 332(6035), 1278–1284. DOI: 10.1126/science.1200138 ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Impact Assessment of Microfinance and Microcredit. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/development-studies/microfinance-impact-assessment
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