Abstract
Microfinance is expected to help poor households generate income through micro-activities, smooth consumption, give them dignity and consequently enhance their wellbeing. Many studies have shown that by providing low-income households with access to financial services, their productivity, management skills and quality of life improve (Khandker, 1998; Zeiler, 2000; ADB, 2000; Parker and Nagarajan, 2001; Morduch and Haley, 2002). Unfortunately, because of the lack of collateral and high transaction costs, the poor and vulnerable cannot access formal bank credits (Pitt and Khandker, 1998; Khandker, 2003). Microfinance institutions (MFIs) have the potential to provide this missing link. The attention on microfinance and its role in reducing poverty was further amplified when Mohammad Yunus received the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. According to the Nobel Committee, microfinance can help people to break out of poverty, which in turn is seen as an important prerequisite to establishing long-lasting peace (Norwegian Nobel Committee, 2006).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
ADB (2000) Finance for the Poor: Microfinance Development Strategy (Manila: Asian Development Bank).
Akerlof, G. (1970) ‘The Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 84, no. 3, pp. 488–500.
Ardenser, S. (1964) ‘The Comparative Study of Rotating Credit Associations’, Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 94, no. 2, pp. 201–29.
Beck, T., A. Demirguc-Kunt and R. Levine (2004) Finance, Inequality and Poverty: Cross-country Evidence, World Bank Economic Working Paper, No. 3338 (Washington, DC: World Bank).
Bester, H. (1987) ‘Screening vs. Rationing in Credit Markets with Imperfect Information’, American Economic Review, vol. 75, no. 4, pp. 850–55.
Bester, H. (1987) ‘The Role of Collateral in Credit Markets with Imperfect Information’, European Economic Review, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 887–99.
Bouman, F. J. A. and K. Harteveld (1976) ‘The Njangi: A Traditional Form of Savings and Credit in West Cameroon’, Sociologia Ruralis, vol. 16, nos 1 and 2, pp. 103–19.
Coleman B. E. (2002) Microfinance in Northeast Thailand: Who Benefits and How Much?, Economics and Research Department Working Paper 9 (Manila: Asian Development Bank).
Cull R., A, Demirguc-Kunt and J. Morduch (2008) Microfinance Meets the Market, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 4630 (Washington, DC: World Bank).
El-Solh C. F. (1999) Feasibility and Operationalization of Microcredit Finance Facilities Targeting Poor Women in Urban and Rural Areas in Selected Arab Countries: Theoretical Perspectives and Practical Considerations, Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (New York: United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia).
Ghatak, M. (1999) ‘Group Lending, Local Information and Peer Selection’, Journal of Development Economics, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 27–50.
Ghatak, M. (2000) ‘Screening by the Company You Keep: Joint Liability Lending and the Peer Selection Effect’, The Economic Journal, vol. 110, no. 465, pp. 601–31.
Gonzalez, V. C. (2003) ‘Deepening Rural Financial Markets: Macroeconomic, Policy and Political Dimensions’, paper for Paving the Way Forward: An International Conference on Best Practices in Rural Finance, Washington, DC, June 2003, pp. 2–4.
Hao, Q. M. (2005) Access to Finance and Poverty Reduction an Application to Rural Vietnam, PhD Thesis, Department of Accounting and Finance, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham.
Heckman, J. (1979) ‘Sample Selection Bias as a Specification Error’, Econometrica, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 153–61.
Hulme, M. and P. Mosley (1996) Finance against Poverty, Volume 1 (London: Routledge).
International Monetary Fund (2003) Cameroon: PRSP, 2003 Implementation Report, IMF Country Report, No. 03/249 (Washington, DC: The International Monetary Fund).
Karnani, A. (2007) ‘Microfinance Misses its Mark’, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Summer, available online at: http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/microfinance_misses_its_mark (accessed 22 February 2013).
Khandker, S. R. (1998) Fighting Poverty with Microcredit: Experience in Bangladesh (New York, Oxford University Press).
Khandker, S. R. (2001) Does Micro-finance Really Benefit the Poor? Evidence from Bangladesh. Asia and Pacific Forum on Poverty: Reforming Policies and Institutions for Poverty Reduction (Manila: Asian Development Bank).
Khandker, S. R. (2005) ‘Microfinance and Poverty: Evidence Using Panel Data from Bangladesh’, World Bank Economic Review, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 263–86.
Khandker, S. R. and R. R. Faruque (2001) The Impact of Farm Credit in Pakistan, Rural Development, Development Research Group (Washington, DC: World Bank).
Littlefield, E., J. Morduch and S. Hashemi (2003) Is Microfinance an Effective Strategy to Reach the Millennium Development Goals?, CGAP Occasional Paper 24 (Washington, DC: World Bank).
Meyer, R. and G. Nagarajan (1992) ‘An Assessment of the Role of Informal Finance in the Development Process’, in G. H. Peters and B. F. Stanton (eds), Sustainable Agricultural Development: The Role of International Cooperation (Brookfield: Dartmouth Press), pp. 644–54.
Meyer, R. and G. Nagarajan (2000) ‘Rural Financial Markets in Asia: Policies, Paradigms, and Performance’, in A Study of Rural Asia 3 by the Asian Development Bank (New York: Oxford University Press).
Morduch, J. (1995) ‘Income Smoothing and Consumption Smoothing’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 103–14.
Morduch, J. (2000) ‘The Microfinance Schism’, World Development, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 617–29.
Morduch. J. and B. Haley (2002) Analysis of the Effects of Micro finance on Poverty Reduction, NYU Wagner Working Paper No. 1014 (Gatineau: Canadian International Development Agency).
Mwabu, G. (2009) ‘The Production of Child Health in Kenya: A Structural Model of Birth Weight’, Journal of African Economies, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 212–60.
National Institute of Statistics (2001) Data Base of CHCS II (Yaoundé: Ministry of Economic Affairs, Programming and Regional Development).
National Institute of Statistics (2008) Trends, Profiles and Determinants of Poverty in Cameroon in 2007: Fact Sheet (Yaoundé: Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development).
Navajas, S., J. Conning, and V. C. Gonzalez (2003) ‘Lending Technologies, Competition, and Consolidation in the Market for Microfinance in Bolivia’, Journal of International Development, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 747–70. Available online at: http://www.interscience.wiley.com.
Norwegian Nobel Committee (2006) ‘The Nobel Peace Prize 2006’, press release, Oslo, October. Available online at: http://nobelprize.org (home page, accessed 22 February 2011).
Panjaitan-Drioadisuryo, D. M. R and K. Cloud (1999) ‘Gender, Self-employment and Microcredit Programs: An Indonesian Case Study’, Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 769–79.
Parker J. and G. Nagarajan (2001) Can Microfinance Meet the Poor’s Needs in Times of Natural Disaster? Microenterprise Best Practices (Bethesda: Development Alternatives, Inc).
Pitt, M. M. and S. R. Khandker (1998) ‘The Impact of Group-based Credit Programs on Poor Households in Bangladesh: Does the Gender of Participants Matter?’, Journal of Political Economy, vol. 106, no. 5, pp. 958–96.
Remenyi, J. and Q. Benjamin (2000) Microfinance and Poverty Alleviation: Case Studies from Asia and the Pacific (London and New York: Pinter, Continuum Press), pp. 131–34 and 253–63.
Rhyne, E. (1998) ‘The Yin and Yang of Microfinance: Reaching the Poor and Sustainability’, The Microbanking Bulletin, no. 2, July, pp. 6–8.
Robinson, M. S. (2001) The Microfinance Revolution: Sustainable Finance for the Poor (Washington, DC: World Bank).
Roodman, D. (2009) What Do We Really Know about Microfinance?, available online at: http://blogs.cgdev.org (home page, accessed 22 February 2012).
Shea, J. (1997) ‘Instrument Relevance in Multivariate Linear Models: A Simple Measure’, Review of Economics and Statistics, vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 348–52.
Stiglitz, J. E. and A. Weiss (1981) ‘Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information’, American Economic Review, vol. 71, no. 3, pp. 393–410.
Stock, J. H. and M. Yogo (2004) Testing for Weak Instruments in Linear IV Regression, Mimeo, Department of Economics, Harvard University.
Wooldridge, J. M. (2002) Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data (Cambridge: MA: MIT Press).
World Bank (1994) Cameroon, Diversity, Growth, and Poverty Reduction (Washington, DC: World Bank).
Wright, G. A. N. (2000) Microfinance Systems: Designing Quality Financial Services for the Poor (London and New York: Zed Books/The Dhaka University Press Limited).
Yaron, J., B. McDonald and S. Charitonenko (1998) ‘Promoting Efficient Rural Financial Intermediation’, The World Bank Research Observer, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 147–70.
Zeiler, M. (2000) Product Innovation for the Poor: The Role of Microfinance, Policy Brief No. 3: Rural Financial Policies for Food Security of the Poor (Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute).
Zeiler, M. (2003) Models of Rural Financial Institutions, paper for Paving the Way Forward: An International Conference on Best Practices in Rural Finance, Washington, DC, 2–4 June.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2013 Francis Menjo Baye
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Baye, F.M. (2013). Micro-credit Access and Household Welfare in Rural Cameroon. In: Manos, R., Gueyié, JP., Yaron, J. (eds) Promoting Microfinance. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137034915_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137034915_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-44205-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-03491-5
eBook Packages: Palgrave Economics & Finance CollectionEconomics and Finance (R0)