Speaker：Travis J. Lybbert（Professor of Departmentof agriculture and resource economics, University of California at Davis）
Description：Recent evidence suggeststhatthe average effects of microfinance on borrowers is moremodestthanpreviouslyclaimed. Treatment effects are heterogeneous and mayincludetransformative impacts for some, but the moderators and mechanismsbehind thisheterogeneity are poorly understood. We carry out an experiment totestwhetheran intervention designed to increase aspirational hope amongborrowerscanelevate microfinance impacts. In collaboration with a microfinancelender inMexico, we produced a documentary featuring successful borrowers withintheorganization and designed and implemented a hope curriculum rooted inpositivepsychology (Snyder, 1994), which conceptualizes hopeas aspirations,agency, andpathways. Bank officers incorporated this curriculum into theirregular weeklymeetings with a randomly treated half of 52 women’s savings andcredit groupswith 780 women over the course of one year. We find that theinterventionsignificantly increased indices measuring both aspirational hopeandmicroenterprise performance over this time period. Treated borrower groupswerealso more likely to persist to future lending cycles.
Time:2018-10-12(Friday)13：30-15：00
Venue:Academic hall 604
