Document Type
Thesis or dissertation
Date of this Version
2022
Advisor
Shing-Yi Wang
Abstract
Borrower debt relief stands as a widely utilized, yet deeply contentious economic policy enacted by governments universally. This paper adopts a difference-in-differences design to study the impact of a women-targeted mass borrower relief program enacted by the government of Jordan in 2019 on credit market outcomes of formal microfinance institutions (MFIs). I find that the program led to significant credit rationing and reallocation from women and areas of higher risk to men and areas of lower risk. Post-program levels of MFI portfolio risk remain stable with no evidence supporting the existence of moral hazard among MFIs, suggesting stricter lending practices in response to the relief.
Keywords
Microfinance, microcredit, borrower relief, debt forgiveness, credit market intervention, credit rationing, moral hazard, adverse selection, Jordan, emerging markets
Recommended Citation
Tabaza, J. K. (2022). "Evaluating the Impact of Mass Borrower Bailout in Jordan's Microfinance Landscape," Joseph Wharton Scholars. Available at https://repository.upenn.edu/joseph_wharton_scholars/117
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Date Posted: 13 June 2022