Abstract This paper uses a unique data set on 143,000 poor households from Northern Bangladesh to analyze the effects of microfinance membership on a household's ability to cope with seasonal famine known as Monga. We develop an identification and estimation strategy that exploits a jump and a kink at the 10 decimal land ownership-threshold driven by the Microfinance Institution (MFI) screening process to ensure repayment by excluding the ultra-poor. Evidence shows that microfinance membership improves food security during Monga, especially for the poorest households who survive at the margin of one and two meals a day. The positive effects on food security are, however, not driven by higher income, as microcredit does not improve the ability to migrate for work, nor does it reduce dependence on distress sale of labor. The evidence is consistent with consumption smoothing being the primary mechanism behind the gains in food security of MFI households during the season of starvation.

中文翻译：

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农村经济中的小额信贷和季节性饥荒的脆弱性：来自孟加拉国蒙加的证据

摘要 本文使用来自孟加拉国北部的 143,000 个贫困家庭的独特数据集来分析小额信贷会员资格对家庭应对称为 Monga 的季节性饥荒的能力的影响。我们开发了一种识别和估计策略，该策略利用小额信贷机构 (MFI) 筛选过程驱动的 10 位小数土地所有权阈值的跳跃和扭结，以通过排除超贫困者来确保还款。有证据表明，小额信贷会员资格改善了 Monga 期间的粮食安全，特别是对于每天只能吃一餐和两餐的最贫困家庭而言。然而，对粮食安全的积极影响并不是由更高的收入驱动的，因为小额信贷不会提高为工作而迁移的能力，也不会减少对苦苦出售劳动力的依赖。