Does Microlending Really Help the Poor?

The interview with Dean Karlan is very good. The research paper on impact measurements can be found here. Over at the BBC (via Innovations for Poverty Action):

Academics have been trying to work out from the evidence whether microcredit does actually raise people's incomes.

But it's been hard to do a proper scientific survey, since you need to compare those who do get a loan with a control group of similar people who don't.

Dean Karlan, professor of economics at Yale University, has managed to do it – with a control group – in the Philippines. His results raise some serious questions about the effectiveness of microcredit in reducing poverty.