This upcoming talk about M-Shwari may be relevant to many of us. ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Rachel Heath <rmheath@uw.edu> Date: Wed, Dec 5, 2018 at 2:58 PM Subject: [jsde] Prashant Bharadwaj -- Joint Seminar in Development Economics -- December 10 To: <jsde@u.washington.edu>, <econfacall@uw.edu>, <econgrad@u.washington.edu

Please join us *Monday, December 10 *for the Joint Seminar in Development Economics with Prashant Bharadwaj from UCSD. The seminar is from *11:00am - 12:30pm in Savery 410.* Title and abstract below. We hope to see you there! Sign up here to meet Prashant, or go to lunch here <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aPl8mb_rgrQxDSoU0WBTX24aJAV_WdLbwl_svegqoUk/edit?usp=sharing> --- Can Digital Loans Deliver? Take Up and Impacts of Digital Loans in Kenya (with William Jack and Tavneet Suri) Developing world lenders are taking advantage of fintech tools to create fully digital loans on mobile phones. We investigate the take up and impacts of one of the most popular digital loan products, M-Shwari in Kenya, using a regression discontinuity design. While 34% of those eligible for the loan take it, this does not substitute for other formal or informal credit. The loans improve household resilience against shocks and increase their propensity to spend on education. These digital loans could therefore be an important way to improve financial access, but they are not a panacea for greater credit market failures. -- Rachel Heath Associate Professor of Economics Milliman Distinguished Scholar University of Washington rmheath@uw.edu <http://faculty.washington.edu/rmheath/> http://faculty.washington.edu/rmheath/ _______________________________________________ jsde mailing list jsde@u.washington.edu http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/jsde