Suchergebnisse

AbstractThis paper measures the impact of North American Free Trade Agreement–induced real border price changes of Mexican imports and exports on wages and employment of agricultural workers in Mexico. I find that changes in real border prices of crops did not affect agricultural wages. On the other hand, increases in the real price of vegetables (main agricultural export) were associated with an increase in employment in the cultivation of vegetables, whereas the drop in the real price of corn (main agricultural import) reduced the employment in the corn sector. This is in line with the predictions of neoclassical trade theory: in the absence of mobility costs or sector‐specific skills, factors moved smoothly from import‐competing sectors into export‐competing sectors. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract
This paper studies how formal financial access affects network-based financial arrangements. We use a field experiment that granted access to a savings account to a random subset of households in 19 Nepalese villages. Exploiting a unique panel dataset that follows all bilateral informal financial transactions before and after the intervention, we show that households that were offered access to an account increased their loans and total transfers to others, independent of the treatment status of the receiver. The increase seemed to be driven by treatment households with more assets and greater financial inclusion at baseline.

Abstract
Digital credit that uses non-traditional scoring techniques has already expanded credit access to many new populations. A point of policy debate is whether digital lenders should be fully integrated into information-sharing systems, such as those offered by credit reference bureaus (CRBs). We study an example of a digital lender in Mexico adopting credit bureau scores into its screening process. Using unique administrative data, we estimate a regression discontinuity in time around the lender's integration of credit bureau scores. We find that the acquisition of credit scores reduces defaults, with the likelihood of borrowers' repayment increasing by 10–13 per cent.

AbstractWe analyse the effects of offering access to a savings account to a sample of poor women on the educational attainment of their children and on the educational aspirations and expectations they have for them. Using data from a field experiment in Nepal that randomized access to savings accounts among a largely unbanked population, we provide evidence that financial access increased the schooling level of daughters and the educational aspirations and expectations parents have for them. Wealth and female empowerment do not seem to be behind our findings. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.