This paper examines the incomes of individuals who have joined self-help groups in poor neighborhoods of Nairobi. Self-help groups are often advocated as a way of facilitating income pooling. We find that incomes are indeed more correlated among individuals in the same group than among...

Standard models of investment predict that credit-constrained firms should grow rapidly when given additional capital, and that how this capital is provided should not affect decisions to invest in the business or consume the capital. We randomly gave cash and in-kind grants to male- and...

Using data from the Philippines, this article seeks to understand how households in the study area apparently manage to avoid falling into a debt trap in spite of frequent borrowing. Findings suggest that this is achieved via three institutional features. First, most informal debt carries no...

This paper examines the formation of risk sharing networks in the rural Philippines. We find that geographic proximity–possibly correlated with kinship–is a major determinant of mutual insurance links among villagers. Age and wealth differences also play an important role. In contrast,...

Using a rich dataset from West Africa we study the determinants of membership in rural producer organizations (RPO). We ...nd that on average it is the more fortunate members of rural society who belong in RPOs. In Senegal, the dominant criteria are land ownership. In Burkina Faso it is economic...

Using matched employer-employee data from eleven African countries, we investigate if there is job sorting in African labor markets. We find that much of the wage gap correlated with education is driven by selection across occupations and firms. This is consistent with educated workers being...

Using matched employer-employee data on 10 African countries, this paper examines the relationship beween wages, worker supervision, and labor productivity in manufacturing. Wages increase with firm size for both production workers and supervisors. We develop a two-tier model of supervision that...

In the development economics literature it is common to read that the poor cannot invest to escape their poverty because they are credit constrained, and that they are credit constrained because they lack collateral. In this paper the author deconstructs these often heard arguments and finds...

In the development economics literature it is common to read that the poor cannot invest to escape their poverty because they are credit constrained, and that they are credit constrained because they lack collateral. In this paper the author deconstructs these often heard arguments and finds...

We conduct a business plan competition to determine whether survey instruments or panel judges are able to predict which participating firms will grow fastest. Participants were required to submit a simple six- to eight-page business plan and then defend that plan before a panel of three or four...