title: Impact of savings groups on the lives of the poor.
abstract: Savings-led microfinance programs operate in poor rural communities in developing countries to establish groups that save and then lend out the accumulated savings to each other. Nonprofit organizations train villagers to create and lead these groups. In a clustered randomized evaluation spanning three African countries (Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda), we find that the promotion of these community-based microfinance groups leads to an improvement in household business outcomes and women's empowerment. However, we do not find evidence of impacts on average consumption or other livelihoods.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511; dean.karlan@yale.edu.|Innovations for Poverty Action, New Haven, CT 06510.
authors.forename: Dean
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Karlan
authors.affiliation: Innovations for Poverty Action, New Haven, CT 06510.
authors.forename: Beniamino
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Savonitto
authors.affiliation: Innovations for Poverty Action, New Haven, CT 06510.|Department of Economics, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Bram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thuysbaert
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Udry
mesh_terms: D003906:Developing Countries / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: empowerment; microfinance; resilience; rural development; savings