Empowering or impoverishing through credit

Bibliographic Data

ID2616392
AuthorsGisela Lanzas (California State University, Northridge [email protected], corresponding author), Matthew Whittle (0000-0002-2051-9630, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona [email protected])
Year2017
Volume2017
Issue78
Pages90-101
Publication date2017-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFocaal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0920-1297 • E-ISSN: 1558-5263
PublisherBerghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3167/fcl.2017.780108
OpenAlexW2669434653
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited15

This article examines the evolution of the credit market for small-scale sugarcane producers in the Plan Chontalpa development program in Tabasco, Mexico. The plan promoted neoliberal policies that transformed the existing credit market available to small-scale producers. The availability of credit was supposed to lead to increased efficiency. However, making credit available to low-income farmers can result in unintended outcomes. We found that many households had high discount rates and used the credit to supplement their household income. Thus, farmers are getting caught in a cycle of debt that often culminates in losing their land. We use a life history to consider the strategies the program has adopted to control credit as well as the counterstrategies the families have developed

Bond market · Business · Credit enhancement · Credit history · Credit reference · Credit risk · Debt · Economics · Unintended consequences · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Land Rights and Reforms · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion · Finance

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