We conduct a field experiment offering graduated microcredit clients the opportunity to finance a business asset worth four times their previous borrowing limit. We implement this using a hire-purchase contract; our control group is offered a zero-interest loan.
Fertilizer use remains below recommended rates in most of Sub-Saharan Africa, contributing to low crop yields and poverty. Michelson et al. (2021) explore the role of fertilizer quality.
A general equilibrium model featuring multiple realistic sources of financial frictions is developed to study how different constraints interact in equilibrium.
Firms use relational contracts to support repeated trade. Do these informal agreements evolve in response to market conditions? In a market for ice, firms reestablish relationships on new terms when a prior agreement breaks down.
A common concern with efforts to directly help some small businesses to grow is that their growth comes at the expense of their unassisted competitors.
In this paper Alé Chilet and Itin-Shwartz (2020) study the effectiveness of marketing channel liberalization in increasing competition among traders and prices obtained by farmers for their produce.
African agricultural markets are characterized by low farmer revenues and high consumer food prices. Many have worried that this wedge is partially driven by imperfect competition among intermediaries.