What is it about?

Drawing on a household survey in south-India, we show that self-employment and microcredit are uncorrelated, and that women and lower castes have a significantly lower chance of starting up a business. The businesses they do start tend to be smaller, less profitable and based in very specific sectors. Our qualitative insights into the workings of local economies show that caste and gender-based social regulations influence local markets determining who can produce or sell what, to whom, and at what price

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Why is it important?

These findings show the importance to integrate self-employment programmes into broader policies for transforming the social regulation of markets and for eradicating discrimination against women and lower castes.

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This page is a summary of: The Social Regulation of Markets: Why Microcredit Fails to Promote Jobs in Rural South India, Development and Change, November 2015, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/dech.12197.
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