Karlan, Appel, Duflo and Banerjee tackle that question through randomized control trials (RCTs).
Rather than letting otherwise substantial facts speak for themselves, Karlan and Appel over qualify their evidence.
Karlan and Appel detail how microloans have made a positive impact throughout the developing world in unexpected ways.
About 85 to 90 percent of users fulfill their contracts, but Karlan cautions that each person's progress is self-reported.
StickK.com came about as a result of the theoretical work of Laibson and others on commitment contracts, Karlan said.
Professor PAM KARLAN (Stanford University): You're now going to face lawsuits often brought after close elections by individuals who are denied the right to vote in circumstances where the litigation will have to be done quickly.
Professor PAM KARLAN (Law, Stanford University): You're now going to face lawsuits often brought after close elections by individuals who were denied the right to vote in circumstances where the litigation will have to be done quickly.
Like Duflo and Banerjee, Karlan, a fellow economist and J-PAL fellow as well as the founder of Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), and Appel, a field researcher for IPA, set out to examine poverty alleviation efforts.
Dean Karlan, a professor of economics at Yale University, says consumers have to consider such issues as privacy in connecting their digital identities with their financial ones and whether they should take on more credit, as more avenues open up.
Other notable speakers include Dean Karlan of Yale and President of Innovations for Poverty Action, who reflected on how the perception of microfinance has gone from being a poverty panacea to a far humbler expectation of helping the poor cope.
FORBES: Microfinance Impact and Innovation Conference 2010, Day 1
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