This paper evaluates the impact of a rural community-driven development programme in Myanmar, which promoted village-level microfinance for income generation. Utilizing a three-round household survey consisting of 100 treatment and 50 comparison villages with approximately 8500 households per round, we employ difference-in-differences and two-stage least squares estimations. Our analysis shows three key findings. First, the programme significantly increased access to microfinance, primarily for production. Second, formal and informal finance were substituted in part with village-level microfinance. As a result, treated households were less likely to borrow money from formal banks or informal lenders such as their relatives, friends or neighbours. Third, the village-level microfinance nudged rural households to harvest, yield and sell their products more, which led to increase in seasonal income. Our study suggests that microfinance targeted for productive investment can significantly improve income of rural households in developing economies.

中文翻译：

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小额信贷对创收的影响：来自缅甸农村社区驱动的发展计划的证据

本文评估了缅甸农村社区驱动的发展计划的影响，该计划促进了村级小额信贷的创收。我们利用由 100 个处理村和 50 个对照村组成的三轮家庭调查，每轮大约 8500 个家庭，采用双重差分法和两阶段最小二乘估计。我们的分析显示了三个主要发现。首先，该计划显着增加了获得小额信贷的机会，主要用于生产。其次，村级小额信贷部分取代了正规和非正规金融。因此，接受治疗的家庭不太可能从正规银行或非正式贷款人（如亲戚、朋友或邻居）借钱。三是村级小额信贷带动农户多收、多产、多销，带动季节性收入增加。我们的研究表明，针对生产性投资的小额信贷可以显着提高发展中经济体农村家庭的收入。