Public Good Provision in Indian Rural Areas : The Returns to Collective Action by Microfinance Groups

Self-help groups (SHGs) are the most common form of microfinance in India. We provide evidence that SHGs, composed of women only, undertake collective actions for the provision of public goods within village communities. Using a theoretical model, we show that an elected official, whose aim is to ma...

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Main Authors:	Casini, Paolo, Vandewalle, Lore, Wahhaj, Zaki
Format:	Journal Article
Published:	Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank 2018
Subjects:	SELF-HELP GROUPS SHGs PUBLIC GOODS MICROFINANCE GENDER COLLECTIVE ACTION VILLAGES CONTRIBUTIONS
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30130

id	okr-10986-30130
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-301302021-05-25T10:54:40Z Public Good Provision in Indian Rural Areas : The Returns to Collective Action by Microfinance Groups Casini, Paolo Vandewalle, Lore Wahhaj, Zaki SELF-HELP GROUPS SHGs PUBLIC GOODS MICROFINANCE GENDER COLLECTIVE ACTION VILLAGES CONTRIBUTIONS Self-help groups (SHGs) are the most common form of microfinance in India. We provide evidence that SHGs, composed of women only, undertake collective actions for the provision of public goods within village communities. Using a theoretical model, we show that an elected official, whose aim is to maximize re-election chances, exerts higher effort in providing public goods when private citizens undertake collective action and coordinate their voluntary contributions towards the same goods. This effect occurs although government and private contributions are assumed to be substitutes in the technology of providing public goods. Using firsthand data on SHGs in India, we test the prediction of the model and show that, in response to collective action by SHGs, local authorities tackle a larger variety of public issues, and are more likely to tackle issues of interest to SHGs. Our findings highlight how the social behavior of SHGs can influence the governance of rural Indian communities. 2018-08-03T19:21:15Z 2018-08-03T19:21:15Z 2017-02 Journal Article World Bank Economic Review 1564-698X http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30130 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research South Asia India
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
topic	SELF-HELP GROUPS SHGs PUBLIC GOODS MICROFINANCE GENDER COLLECTIVE ACTION VILLAGES CONTRIBUTIONS
spellingShingle	SELF-HELP GROUPS SHGs PUBLIC GOODS MICROFINANCE GENDER COLLECTIVE ACTION VILLAGES CONTRIBUTIONS Casini, Paolo Vandewalle, Lore Wahhaj, Zaki Public Good Provision in Indian Rural Areas : The Returns to Collective Action by Microfinance Groups
geographic_facet	South Asia India
description	Self-help groups (SHGs) are the most common form of microfinance in India. We provide evidence that SHGs, composed of women only, undertake collective actions for the provision of public goods within village communities. Using a theoretical model, we show that an elected official, whose aim is to maximize re-election chances, exerts higher effort in providing public goods when private citizens undertake collective action and coordinate their voluntary contributions towards the same goods. This effect occurs although government and private contributions are assumed to be substitutes in the technology of providing public goods. Using firsthand data on SHGs in India, we test the prediction of the model and show that, in response to collective action by SHGs, local authorities tackle a larger variety of public issues, and are more likely to tackle issues of interest to SHGs. Our findings highlight how the social behavior of SHGs can influence the governance of rural Indian communities.
format	Journal Article
author	Casini, Paolo Vandewalle, Lore Wahhaj, Zaki
author_facet	Casini, Paolo Vandewalle, Lore Wahhaj, Zaki
author_sort	Casini, Paolo
title	Public Good Provision in Indian Rural Areas : The Returns to Collective Action by Microfinance Groups
title_short	Public Good Provision in Indian Rural Areas : The Returns to Collective Action by Microfinance Groups
title_full	Public Good Provision in Indian Rural Areas : The Returns to Collective Action by Microfinance Groups
title_fullStr	Public Good Provision in Indian Rural Areas : The Returns to Collective Action by Microfinance Groups
title_full_unstemmed	Public Good Provision in Indian Rural Areas : The Returns to Collective Action by Microfinance Groups
title_sort	public good provision in indian rural areas : the returns to collective action by microfinance groups
publisher	Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank
publishDate	2018
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30130
_version_	1764471284895318016

Public Good Provision in Indian Rural Areas : The Returns to Collective Action by Microfinance Groups

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