Micro-Credit Benefits the Client: Evidence from Control Group Studies

This case study can be found on pages 102-105 of this larger document. The paper summarises the impacts of microenterprise programs on:

• Household income: In Asia the trend is generally positive, while for Africa it is mixed; enables diversification in income sources; provides better protection against risk;
• Enterprise growth: Improves monthly profits; increases enterprise income; sales growth; employment generation;
• Food consumption: improvement in family diets, as well as in consumption of fish and meat; increase in total expenditure per capita;
• Education: Despite having more impact on boys schooling than girls, both are positively affected;
• Assets: Investment in household assets is associated with participation in programs;
• Women's empowerment: Raised self esteem of most of the borrowers, felt more strongly by women than men.