Assessment criteria

EC310: Topics in Development Economics

1. Basic details

Assessment type Assignment 1 - Essay 2000 word limit (Excluding

references)
Deadline 09 March 2023 Mid-day
Weighting 20%

2. Questions/required work

“Model of micro-finance through joint liability lending can be the solution for
provisioning investment in the context of the developing countries”- Critically argue
this statement.

(Hint: A good answer should critically argue this statement by providing argument in favour
and against this statement. Your arguments should be substantiated by relevant theoretical
and empirical literature. You are welcomed to use your own preferred academic references.)

Following resources can be used.

1) Ghatak, Maitreesh, and Timothy W. Guinnane, 1999. “The Economics of Lending With
Joint Liability” Journal of Development Economics 60: 195-228

2) Cull, Robert, Asli Demirguc¸-Kunt and Jonathan Morduch (2009). ¨ “Microfinance

Meets the Market” Journal of Economic Perspectives 23, no. 1: 167-192

3) Banerjee, Abhijit V., Esther Duflo, Rachel Glennester, and Cynthia Kinnan (2015) “The
Miracle of Microfinance: Evidence from a Randomised Evaluation” American Economic
Journal: Applied Economics 7, no. 1: 22-53.

4) Kaboski, J.P. and Townsend, R.M., 2011. A structural evaluation of a large‐scale quasi‐
experimental microfinance initiative. Econometrica, 79(5), pp.1357-1406.

5) Field, Erica, Rohini Pande, John Papp, and Natalia Rigol. 2013. "Does the Classic
Microfinance Model Discourage Entrepreneurship among the Poor? Experimental
Evidence from India." American Economic Review, 103 (6): 2196-2226.

6) Xavier Giné, Dean S. Karlan, Group versus individual liability: Short and long term
evidence from Philippine microcredit lending groups, Journal of Development
Economics, Volume 107, 2014, Pages 65-83, ISSN 0304-3878.

7) Haldar, A., & Stiglitz, J. E. (2016). Group Lending, Joint Liability, and Social Capital:
Insights From the Indian Microfinance Crisis. Politics & Society, 44(4), 459–497

8) Attanasio, Orazio, Britta Augsburg, Ralph De Haas, Emla Fitzsimons and Heike
Harmgart. 2015. "The Impacts of Microfinance: Evidence from Joint-Liability Lending
in Mongolia." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 7(1):90-122

9) Jonathan de Quidt, Thiemo Fetzer, Maitreesh Ghatak, Group lending without joint
liability, Journal of Development Economics, Volume 121, 2016, Pages 217-236, ISSN
0304-3878,

10) Alexander Karaivanov, Xiaochuan Xing, Yi Xue, Bogus joint liability groups in
microfinance, European Economic Review, Volume 122, 2020, 103353, ISSN 0014-
2921,
 3. Assessment criteria

Your work will be assessed on the following criteria:

Subject Knowledge and
Understanding Your ability to understand and explain the economic logic
behind need for micro-finance as the provision of finance
for investment in the context of developing countries.

Your ability to understand and explain clearly the

Subject Knowledge and
Understanding meaning of “model of micro-finance through
joint liability lending”.
Subject Knowledge and Your ability to explain the economics logic of
Understanding the limitations for micro-finance.
Subject Specific and Professional Your ability to argue using relevant theoretical
Skills and empirical literature
Cognitive Skills Your ability to apply critical analysis to the topics of the
module, formulate concepts and hypotheses, and
show how they can be used.
Key Skills Your skill at communicating your knowledge and
understanding to others in writing.

Key Skills Your proficiency in understanding how

economists generate and interpret empirical
evidence.