The impact of microfinance on poverty alleviation : a case study of borrowers in Ramallah

Other Title(s)

أثر التمويل المتناهي الصغر على التخفيف من الفقر : حالة دراسية حول المقترضين في رام الله

Dissertant

Isid, Razan

Thesis advisor

Musa, Riyad

Comitee Members

Sadiq, Tariq
Arqawi, Bayan M.

University

Birzeit University

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Economics

Department

Department of Economics

University Country

Palestine (West Bank)

Degree

Master

Degree Date

2017

English Abstract

This study challenges the Neoliberal perspective relating to the positive impact of microfinance on poverty alleviation.

In particular, this study examines whether microfinance improves household welfare and develops businesses, as perceived by borrowers from ACAD, Asala and Faten’s branches in Ramallah, Palestine.

Eight indicators are used to capture the impact of microfinance on household welfare including income, consumption expenditure, nutrition, education, health care, non-land asset holdings, housing conditions and social empowerment.

In addition, three business indicators are used to examine the impact of microfinance on business development.

These include business sales, profits and capital.

This study also employs four microfinance variables to estimate their impact on household welfare.

These include the cumulative value of microfinance loans, length of participation in microfinance programs, total number of microfinance loans and average annual interest rate.

The logistic regression results show that longer involvement in microfinance programs increases the odds of perceiving improvements in income, consumption expenditure and social empowerment.

Besides, increasing the total number of microfinance loans increases the odds of better-perceived access to health care.

However, higher cumulative value of microfinance loans decreases the odds of better-perceived income, consumption expenditure, education and health care, and higher interest rates decrease the odds of better-perceived income, consumption expenditure, nutrition, education, housing conditions and social empowerment.

Models focusing on business development indicators employ three microfinance variables, namely; cumulative value of microfinance loans, length of involvement in microfinance programs and average annual interest rate.

The study finds that longer involvement in microfinance increases the odds of reporting improvements in business sales, profits and capital.

However, higher interest rates decrease the odds of increased profits while the cumulative value of loans does not impact business development indicators.

Main Subjects

Economy and Commerce

Topics

• Poverty
• Microfinance
• Case studies
• Ram Allah

No. of Pages

135

Table of Contents

• APA
• MLA
• AMA

Language

English

Data Type

Arab Theses

Record ID

BIM-762508