The intergenerational impacts of capital for microentrepreneurs: long-run evidence from a flexible credit contract intervention in India

Last registered on July 12, 2023

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The intergenerational impacts of capital for microentrepreneurs: long-run evidence from a flexible credit contract intervention in India
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003572
Initial registration date
November 18, 2018

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
November 19, 2018, 11:06 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
July 12, 2023, 3:58 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Princeton University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Harvard
PI Affiliation
MSR, HBS
PI Affiliation
Duke
PI Affiliation
Harvard

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2006-04-01
End date
2019-12-31
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study examines the long-run impact of microfinance contracts with a grace period on borrowers’ income and their children’s outcomes. It is based on a field experiment conducted in 2007 that found that grace periods increase household income by 20% after three years. We analyze whether this has led to investments in children’s education and health outcomes. To do this, we tracked the quality and quantity of schooling throughout the lifetime of the children and also the children’s health outcomes, marriage outcomes, occupation, and wages in a 10-year follow-up survey.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Agte, Patrick et al. 2023. "The intergenerational impacts of capital for microentrepreneurs: long-run evidence from a flexible credit contract intervention in India." AEA RCT Registry. July 12. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3572-1.1
Former Citation
Agte, Patrick et al. 2023. "The intergenerational impacts of capital for microentrepreneurs: long-run evidence from a flexible credit contract intervention in India." AEA RCT Registry. July 12. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3572/history/186008
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2007-04-01
Intervention End Date
2007-04-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Our primary outcomes are children's long-run health and educational outcomes
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We use a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate our research questions. Starting in 2006, we conducted three field experiments to understand repayment flexibility. In the first (2006 - 2007), clients were randomly assigned to either a weekly or monthly repayment schedule. In the second (2007 - 2008), clients were randomly assigned to either begin loan repayment 2 weeks or 2 months after loan disbursal. In the third (2008 - 2009), the first experiment was repeated with a more heterogeneous sample to measure the interaction between repayment flexibility and client characteristics. The random treatment assignment in the second and third round was strati fied by previous treatment assignments to ensure interpretability of the results. Here, we are interested in the long-term impact of the second intervention, the grace period intervention.

Our study was conducted with Village Financial Services (VFS), an MFI that makes individual-liability loans to women in low-income neighborhoods of Kolkata. Between March and December 2007 VFS formed 169 fi ve-member loan groups designated for inclusion in the study, giving us a study sample of 845 clients. Each client received an individual-liability loan varying in size from Rs 4,000 (USD 90) to Rs 10,000 (USD 225) with a modal loan amount of Rs 8,000. After group formation and loan approval, but prior to loan disbursement, groups were randomized into one of two repayment schedules. 85 groups were assigned to the regular VFS debt contract with repayment in fixed installments starting two weeks after loan disbursement, and 84 groups were assigned an analogous contract that also included a grace period of two months. Other features of the loan contract were held constant: Once repayment began, all groups were required to repay fortnightly over the course of 44 weeks. Repayment occurred in a group meeting conducted every two weeks by a loan officer in a group member's home (on group-meetings also see Feigenberg, Field, and Pande 2012). Both groups faced the same interest charges. However, longer debt maturity (55 as opposed to 44 weeks before the full loan amount was due) combined with the same total interest charges implied that grace period clients faced a slightly lower e ffective interest rate on the loan. Treatment status was assigned within batches of 20 groups, determined by timing of group formation (the final batch was smaller with nine groups). No clients dropped out between randomization and loan disbursement.

After the 2008 second endline data collection, the 845 clients we re-surveyed in 2010 and 2012 to build a panel data set. Between March and August 2018, we conducted the last round of follow-up, collecting data for 729 of the original 845 clients. As part of the 2018 survey, we also collected biomarkers, health and business outcomes data for all children in the household and detailed education data for all children the respondent ever had. Seventy percent of households in the sample had children ages 0-16 at the time of the intervention and, in 2018, 73% of households still have children living in their household.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization was done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Loan groups
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
169 loan groups
Sample size: planned number of observations
845 clients
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Control: 85 loan groups
Grace Period: 84 loan groups
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Harvard Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2018-04-06
IRB Approval Number
MOD-16487-08
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

VFS - Intergenerational Impact: Pre-Analysis Plan

MD5: 1e659b6e32ee0546f06c672c3071c5e6

SHA1: f9df4cef948063ac4bc6d19bc1785158244dea03

Uploaded At: November 18, 2018

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials