“…These studies argue that social ties can embed trust, reciprocity and mutual support and that therefore they may be used as informal methods of support in case of need. The proxies for social ties used by these studies include the type of relationship (such as family, friends, or acquaintances; see, among others, Ahlin & Townsend, 2007;Al-Azzam et al, 2012;Griffin & Husted, 2015), duration of the relationship (Hermes et al, 2005;Wydick, 1999), meeting frequency (Feigenberg, Field, Pande, Rigol, & Sarkar, 2014;Feigenberg et al, 2013;Van Bastelaer & Leathers, 2006), geographic proximity (Karlan, 2007) These studies provide mixed results with respect to the relationship between social ties and repayment performance of group loans. While they add to our understanding of why and when social ties between group members may increase their repayment performance, they do not take into account the potential importance of ties with individuals outside the borrowing group (external ties).…”