Does Political Identity Matter in Rural Borrowing? Evidence from a Field Survey

This study is based on a primary survey conducted over two consecutive years in two villages in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, India. West Bengal has the unique feature of being under a single coalition government for the last 30 years. In this context, we examine the effect of diffe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of South Asian development 2010-04, Vol.5 (1), p.137-163
Main Authors: Banerjee, Tanmoyee, Roy, Malabika, Ghosh, Chandralekha
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Borrowing
Identity
Loans
Political conditions
Political economy
Probability
Religious influences
Rural areas
Socioeconomic status
West Bengal
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Summary:This study is based on a primary survey conducted over two consecutive years in two villages in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, India. West Bengal has the unique feature of being under a single coalition government for the last 30 years. In this context, we examine the effect of different socioeconomic, political and demographic borrower characteristics on the probability of taking a loan from formal sources and the size of such loans taken. We find that political identity significantly affects the borrowers’ access to the formal loan market. Other factors that are significant in characterising the formal borrowers are occupational categories, landholding and religious status.
ISSN:0973-1741
0973-1733
DOI:10.1177/097317411000500106