微观金融扶贫对“扶智”的政策效果、来源与作用机制——基于随机实地实验的因果推断

Unpacking the Causes and Mechanisms of Impact of Microfinance onEducation--Causal Inferences from a Randomized Controlled Trial

国内外研究已广泛发现小额信贷的减贫作用,但对其带来的非经济福利变化的研究尚且有限。贫困地区儿童的人力资本积累是打破贫困代际传递的关键。本文基于2010—2014年5省10县50个行政村1500个农户按照随机控制实地实验方式开展的贫困村村级互助金项目,评估微观金融扶贫政策对贫困地区孩子教育水平的因果效应,并识别其作用来源与机制。本文发现互助金能够持续提高孩子受教育年限和在义务教育阶段后继续求学的概率,但不能保证完成高中或同等阶段职业教育。上述因果效应主要来自男孩和家庭预算约束紧、经济条件较差、父亲教育水平较低的孩子,显示出互助金有缩小贫富农户间的孩子教育差距、打破教育贫困的代际传递的"教育益贫"作用。但由于"男孩偏好"的作用并不能缩小农村教育的性别差距,对教育的正向因果效应的作用机制来自贫困地区孩子参与劳动生产的频率下降和家庭教育投入上升。

The poverty-reducing impact of microcredit has been well documented around the world,while its social outcomes have remained under-researched.Child human capital accumulation in poor areas is crucial to break the intergenerational transmission of poverty.We exploit a unique randomized controlled trial of the village fund in 50 villages out of 10 counties in 5 Chinese provinces that have been designed and implemented in collaboration with the government over the period 2010-2014.We not only evaluate the impact of an official microcredit program on child schooling but also identify its sources and mechanisms.We find that the village fund improves child schooling beyond compulsory education,but is irrelevant to their completion rate of senior high schools or equivalence.The positive impact on education stems from boys and households who are credit constrained,have low economic conditions,and fathers without completing primary education.This implies that the village fund helps to narrow child educational achievement between poor and non-poor households and has potentials in breaking the transmission of low education between generations,but is less likely to narrow gender disparity in education in poor rural areas.The reduced child labor in production and households'increased educational expenditure serves as transmission channels.