You Can Pick Your Friends, But You Need to Watch Them: Loan Screening And Enforcement in a Referrals Field Experiment

39 Pages Posted: 27 Mar 2012

See all articles by Dean S. Karlan

Dean S. Karlan

Yale University; Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management; Innovations for Poverty Action; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Jonathan Zinman

Dartmouth College; Innovations for Poverty Action; Jameel Poverty Action Lab; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Gharad Bryan

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Department of Economics

Date Written: January 19, 2012

Abstract

We examine a randomized trial that allows separate identification of peer screening and enforcement of credit contracts. A South African microlender offered half its clients a bonus for referring a friend who repaid a loan. For the remaining clients, the bonus was conditional on loan approval. After approval, the repayment incentive was removed from half the referrers in the first group and added for half those in the second. We find large enforcement effects, a $12 (100 Rand) incentive reduced default by 10 percentage points from a base of 20%. In contrast, we find no evidence of screening.

Keywords: Information asymmetries, credit market failures, peer networks, social capital, social networks

JEL Classification: C93, D12, D14, D82, O12, O16

Suggested Citation

Karlan, Dean S. and Karlan, Dean S. and Zinman, Jonathan and Bryan, Gharad, You Can Pick Your Friends, But You Need to Watch Them: Loan Screening And Enforcement in a Referrals Field Experiment (January 19, 2012). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2009582 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2009582

Dean S. Karlan

Yale University ( email )

Box 208269
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Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management ( email )

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Innovations for Poverty Action ( email )

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Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

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Jonathan Zinman

Dartmouth College ( email )

Hanover, NH 03755
United States
603-646-0075 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.dartmouth.edu/jzinman/

Innovations for Poverty Action

1731 Connecticut Ave, 4th floor
New Haven, CT 20009
United States

Jameel Poverty Action Lab

E60-246
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Gharad Bryan (Contact Author)

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Department of Economics ( email )

Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

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