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The main lessons that were drawn from this gathered evidence are as follows.

  • While microcredit induced greater borrowing in all countries, it did not lead to substantial increases in borrowers’ income and their overall economic well-being, neither within the typical loan period of 18 months, nor in the longer run of three to six years.
  • Positive impacts on other measures of well-being (consumption, empowerment, etc.) were also not observed in any of the studied settings.
  • However, the evidence suggests that households with access to microcredit enjoyed greater freedom in deciding how they earned and spent money (e.g. reducing earnings from wage labour and increasing income from selfemployment activities), and were more able to deal with income shocks.
  • Importantly, there is no evidence of systematic harmful impacts of access to microcredit.