Household Matters: Revisiting the Returns to Capital among Female Microentrepreneurs

Bernhardt, Arielle; Field, Erica; Pande, Rohini; Rigol, Natalia

doi:10.1257/aeri.20180444

Cited by 51 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…17 Bernhardt et al (2017) offer an explanation for this by showing that grants to female owners can lead to increased business income for other household members.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of cash transfers on adult labor market outcomes

Baird

McKenzie

Özler

2018

IZA J Develop Migration

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The basic economic model of labor supply has a very clear prediction of what we should expect when an adult receives an unexpected cash windfall: they should work less and earn less. This intuition underlies concerns that many types of cash transfers, ranging from government benefits to migrant remittances, will undermine work ethics and make recipients lazy. We discuss a range of additional channels to this simple labor-leisure trade-off that can make this intuition misleading in low-and middle-income countries, including missing markets, price effects from conditions attached to transfers, and dynamic and general equilibrium effects. We use this as a lens through which to examine the evidence on the adult labor market impacts of a wide range of cash transfer programs: government transfers, charitable giving and humanitarian transfers, remittances, cash assistance for job search, cash transfers for business start-up, and bundled interventions. Overall, cash transfers that are made without an explicit employment focus (such as conditional and unconditional cash transfers, and remittances) tend to result in little to no change in adult labor. The main exceptions are transfers to the elderly and to some refugees, who reduce work. In contrast, transfers made for job search assistance or business start-up tend to increase adult labor supply and earnings, with the likely main channels being the alleviation of liquidity and risk constraints.

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“…17 Bernhardt et al (2017) offer an explanation for this by showing that grants to female owners can lead to increased business income for other household members.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of cash transfers on adult labor market outcomes

Baird

McKenzie

Özler

2018

IZA J Develop Migration

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“…Jakiela and Ozier (2016) find that women are willing to pay to hide investment returns from relatives. Meanwhile, Bernhardt, Field, Pande, and Rigol (2019) re-examine data on differences in returns to microenterprise investment between men and women and find the lower returns for women documented by de Mel, McKenzie, and Woodruff (2008) and Fafchamps, McKenzie, Quinn, and Woodruff (2014) are entirely explained by the presence of a male-owned enterprise in the household (which presumably receives the bulk of the investment).…”

Section: Who Within and Across Households Migrates?mentioning

confidence: 93%

Migration and household finances: How a different framing can improve thinking about migration

Clemens

Ogden²

2019

Development Policy Review

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Motivation It is time to reframe fundamentally the research agenda on migration, remittances, payments and development. Many policy‐makers in the developing world, and researchers, tend to view migrant remittances as windfall income, rather than as returns on investment, which is how families with migrants tend see remittances. Migration is thus, among other things, a strategy for financial management in poor households: location is an asset, migration an investment. Purpose We propose that this shift of perspective on remittances—from windfall to return on investment—leads to more fruitful research questions. Methods Reviewing the literature, we summarize the research questions that have dominated the literature on migration and remittances and why, owing largely to unhelpful perspectives, they lead us to less informative answers. Findings We suggest 12 new and alternative research questions that have received relatively little attention in the literature on migration and remittances, to spur new, more productive research. Policy Implications Migrant remittances are now several times larger than foreign aid. The effects of migration regulation and financial regulation on remittances have directly and significantly affect poverty and human security worldwide. But some of the most basic questions about remittances and their effects remain inadequately answered, in part because of a blinded research agenda. Asking better questions is a step toward better policies, programmes and regulations and, above all, to enable people on low incomes to improve their lives.

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“…Economists originally explained this gender differential in investment by citing timeinconsistent preferences-the difficulty that people face in prioritizing future gains over current consumption-and pressures to share cash with others in the household or social network (Fafchamps et al, 2014). But, Bernhardt, Field, Pande, and Rigol (2017) recently reanalyzed data from the Ghana experiment as well as two others that attempted to relieve capital constraints faced by microentrepreneurs. The original studies had all documented gender gaps in investment behaviors (De Mel et al, 2008;Field et al, 2013;Fafchamps et al, 2014).…”

Section: Women Entrepreneursmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The reanalysis finds that when women are the sole enterprise owner within the household, capital shocks do lead to increased profits. However, when their husbands also own enterprises, women's capital is invested into their husband's business rather than their own (Bernhardt et al, 2017). Relatedly, in a study in Sri Lanka, De Mel et al (2008) determine that women's decision-making power and level of cooperation with their spouse affects their business investment behavior.…”

Section: Women Entrepreneursmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competing priorities: Women’s microenterprises and household relationships

Friedson-Ridenour

Pierotti

2019

World Development

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The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

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Household Matters: Revisiting the Returns to Capital among Female Microentrepreneurs

Cited by 51 publications

References 23 publications

The effects of cash transfers on adult labor market outcomes

The effects of cash transfers on adult labor market outcomes

Migration and household finances: How a different framing can improve thinking about migration

Competing priorities: Women’s microenterprises and household relationships

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