Micro-finance and woman household expenditure decision : the case of Addis Credit and Saving Institution

Abstract

This study is conducted with an objective of identifying the determinant factors that affect women micro-finance participants’ involvement in household decision making (child-related, women-related and sale/purchase of personal asset) and to examine the effect of group lending on the level of participation of women in household expenditure decision making. A Primary household data ( ‘before’-‘after’ ) from 100 women micro-finance participants of Addis Ababa (capital city of Ethiopia) and a secondary data from different official reports was collected from mid-December 2011 until the end of January 2012. In this study the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Ordered Probit estimation technique is employed and the regression result showed that increased level of education, low household size and high income contribution to the household by the women increases the woman’s level of participation in the household expenditure decisions. It also revealed that the amount of loan taken and microfinance experience of the women are found to be insignificant in most of household decisions by the women for the overall micro-finance participants. Among the group members, however, the result indicated that higher microfinance experience would lead to higher level of decision by the women concerning family planning.