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Microfinance in a macroeconomic context - An impact analysis

Sjönell, Jessica LU (2010) NEKK01 20102
Department of Economics
Abstract
The purpose of the thesis is to investigate a possible link between financial sector development through microfinance and economic growth in low income countries. The microfinance sector has been able to reach poor clients, earlier considered “unbankable” and is now increasing the financial services in these countries by including the poor. The hypothesis of the paper is that this leads to an expansion and a further development of the financial system, which in turn leads to economic growth. First, the theoretical link between the financial system and economic growth is investigated and established. Second, a theoretical framework linking the microfinance sector and the financial system is built. Last, the hypothesis is empirically tested... (More)
The purpose of the thesis is to investigate a possible link between financial sector development through microfinance and economic growth in low income countries. The microfinance sector has been able to reach poor clients, earlier considered “unbankable” and is now increasing the financial services in these countries by including the poor. The hypothesis of the paper is that this leads to an expansion and a further development of the financial system, which in turn leads to economic growth. First, the theoretical link between the financial system and economic growth is investigated and established. Second, a theoretical framework linking the microfinance sector and the financial system is built. Last, the hypothesis is empirically tested in a regression analysis. Included in the regression is a set of control variables considered to be robust when testing economic growth. The independent variable is total microfinance portfolio holdings, MFI, drawn from the webpage MixMarket.org.
The result was rather discouraging, since the MFI variable did not have any significance on economic growth. Of the control variables, only inflation did not turn out significant as expected. The result does however support the common belief that the MFI sector might be too small to have a visible impact on economic growth. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Sjönell, Jessica LU
supervisor
organization
course
NEKK01 20102
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
MICROFINANCE, FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT, FINANCIAL SYSTEM, ECONOMIC GROWTH
language
English
id
1787266
date added to LUP
2011-02-16 16:15:37
date last changed
2011-02-16 16:15:37
@misc{1787266,
  abstract     = {{The purpose of the thesis is to investigate a possible link between financial sector development through microfinance and economic growth in low income countries. The microfinance sector has been able to reach poor clients, earlier considered “unbankable” and is now increasing the financial services in these countries by including the poor. The hypothesis of the paper is that this leads to an expansion and a further development of the financial system, which in turn leads to economic growth. First, the theoretical link between the financial system and economic growth is investigated and established. Second, a theoretical framework linking the microfinance sector and the financial system is built. Last, the hypothesis is empirically tested in a regression analysis. Included in the regression is a set of control variables considered to be robust when testing economic growth. The independent variable is total microfinance portfolio holdings, MFI, drawn from the webpage MixMarket.org.
The result was rather discouraging, since the MFI variable did not have any significance on economic growth. Of the control variables, only inflation did not turn out significant as expected. The result does however support the common belief that the MFI sector might be too small to have a visible impact on economic growth.}},
  author       = {{Sjönell, Jessica}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Microfinance in a macroeconomic context - An impact analysis}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}