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Potential borrowers' demand for credit is restrained by agricultural risk, while microfinance institutions favor male over female farmers because the latter have no collateral. We investigate whether women's membership in cooperatives facilitates access to credit. Primary data from Kenya were used. Descriptive statistics, propensity score matching, and probit regression methods were applied. The results show that 78 % of the respondents did not apply for credit mostly because of high interest rates and being risk-averse; while 60 % of those denied credit were due to lack of collateral. The estimates indicate that joining cooperatives increases the probability of female farmers' access to credit; transparency in cooperatives' financial activities increases the probability of accessing credit by 72 %. Given the core role of cooperatives, there is a need for a favorable environment in which cooperatives can form, develop, and thrive. Cooperatives need support from the government and development agencies to buffer their financial and management capacities and skills training. Subsequently bolstering women farmers' participation in cooperatives.

AbstractThis study aims to examine the impact of access to credit on labour productivity of Vietnamese firms. We use panel data from the Small and Medium Sized Manufacturing Enterprises Survey in Vietnam between 2007 and 2015 to conduct an analysis of how access to credit affects firm-level productivity. By applying two-stage least-squares regression method, we find that access to credit is statistically associated with a set of characteristics of firms, owner, and business environment. We also find that credit access has a significantly positive impact on firm’s labour productivity. Accordingly, better credit access leads to an improvement in labour productivity. Policy implications are discussed.

AbstractAccess to agricultural credit is still a challenge in developing countries. The weakness of agricultural financing prevents producers from acquiring the modern technologies that are essential for the development of their activity. This paper aims to determine the impact of access to credit on agricultural productivity in Benin using alternative measures of productivity. To do this, we use the endogenous switching regression model to control for potential selection and unobserved heterogeneity issues associated with this impact analysis. The data used comes from the statistical databases of the National Agricultural Research Institute of Benin. The results show that the adoption of improved seeds, the geographic location, the area sown and member of peasant organization determine producers’ access to credit are factors that determine producers’ access to credit. Farmers’ access to credit generates an estimated gain of 40.07% and 31.97% respectively for production per hectare and production per FCFA invested. These results require a comprehensive and coherent public action.

How do changes in inflation and financial market development affect the size of the shadow economy? Previous studies show that lowering the tax rate, coupled with increasing the level of tax enforcement through policing and imposing high penalties for tax evasion may reduce the size of the shadow economy. While increasing the level of enforcement may be a viable strategy, most developing countries are unable to effectively enforce their tax laws. Based on empirical observations, we suggest that monetary authority could play an important role in this regard. Using a two-sector dynamic general equilibrium model of a small open economy, we demonstrate how monetary policy can be used to reduce the size of the shadow economy. The results suggest that, conditional on access to credit, a rise in inflation leads to a reduction in the size of the shadow economy. With little or no access to credit, such a policy will be ineffective. We evaluate alternative policy measures to achieve a targeted size of the informal sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land transfer is a favorable tool to solve the low land utilization rate caused by population aging and migration. Most previous studies on land transfer behavior focused on the participation and area of transfer, while little attention was paid to farmers’ future land transfer intentions. Hence, by building an analysis framework of land transfer-in “participation-area-future willingness,” this study uses the recent farm-level data from China to systematically examine the relationship between access to credit and land transfer-in decisions. To address the potential endogeneity and selection bias from the observable and unobservable factors, we employ the endogenous switching regression (ESR) model and endogenous switching probit (ESP) model for the analysis. The empirical results show that access to credit increases the expected probability of land transfer-in participation and futural intention, as well as helps to expand the land transfer-in area. Specifically, access to credit contributes to increasing the participation, area, and futural willingness of farmers’ land transfer-in by 62.6%, 126%, and 74.9%, respectively. The positive role of access to credit is confirmed by the estimates of the propensity score matching (PSM) approach. Our findings highlight that financial support through access to credit can encourage farmers’ land transfer-in decisions and further protect the limited arable land source.