In this study, microfinance clients were randomly assigned to repayment groups that met either weekly or monthly during their first loan cycle, and then graduated to identical meeting frequency for their second loan. Long-run survey data and a follow-up public goods experiment reveal that clients initially assigned to weekly groups interact more often and exhibit a higher willingness to pool risk with group members from their first loan cycle nearly two years after the experiment.
The Economic Returns to Social Interaction: Experimental Evidence from Microfinance
Benjamin Feigenberg, Erica Field and Rohini Pande
2013