Micro-Credit Programs and Off-Farm Migration in China

This paper seeks to evaluate effects of micro-credit projects on the poor. We utilize data that we collected in Sichuan Province in 1999 to investigate whether micro-credit projects have targeted the poor and whether participation in the micro-credit project increases the likelihood of migration and switching to off-farm jobs. We find that, although the micro-credit programs did not help increase assets of the participants, it did help to move one or more of their members into an off-farm job. Our findings indicate that there is a great deal of benefit in supporting micro-credit programs. Copyright 2004 Blackwell Publishing Ltd