Papers by Valentina Hartarska
Revista iberoamericana de estudios de desarrollo = Iberoamerican journal of development studies
In recognition of cooperatives’ contribution to the socio-economic well-being of their participan... more In recognition of cooperatives’ contribution to the socio-economic well-being of their participants, the United Nations has declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives. Microfinance cooperatives make a large part of the microfinance industry. We study efficiency of microfinance cooperatives and provide estimates of the optimal size of such organizations. We employ the classical efficiency analysis consisting of estimating a system of equations and identify the optimal size of microfinance cooperatives in terms of their number of clients (outreach efficiency), as well as dollar value of lending and deposits (sustainability). We find that microfinance cooperatives have increasing returns to scale which means that the vast majority can lower cost if they become larger. We calculate that the optimal size is around $100 million in lending and half of that in deposits. We find less robust estimates in terms of reaching many clients with a range from 40,000 to 180,000 borrowers...
Southern Economic Journal
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Feb 10, 2023
International Journal of Economics and Finance
This paper examines the consequences of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection... more This paper examines the consequences of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 on financial inclusion in rural areas. The Act imposed changes in the U.S. banking industry that contributed to closures or consolidation of smaller community banks, mostly in the rural areas, that could not sustain the higher regulatory burden. We evaluate whether the Act had differential impacts on the financial inclusion of rural and urban unbanked households. Financial inclusion is measured by the utilization of banking services such as checking or savings account and by relying less on Alternative Financial Services (AFS). We employ the Changes-in-Changes quantile model to establish if rural unbanked households were more affected relative to their urban counterparts and provide robustness checks through ordered and binomial logistic regressions. We analyze both the short- and the long-term impacts of the Act using household-level data from the FDIC National Surveys of U...
Proceedings - Academy of Management, Aug 1, 2022
Handbook of Production Economics, 2021
Peanut production efficiency in the Southeast is analyzed for assessing farm-level impacts of the... more Peanut production efficiency in the Southeast is analyzed for assessing farm-level impacts of the 2002 Farm Act. Stochastic frontier analysis utilizes data from 2001 Peanut Farm Survey. Results show that production efficiency cannot be attributed to quota ownership. Certain other farm attributes, such as size and age, are also important.
Published research on credit counseling and mortgage termination is surprisingly scarce, despite ... more Published research on credit counseling and mortgage termination is surprisingly scarce, despite substantial growth in this industry. While the purpose of counseling is to help low-income borrowers to handle better debt, and thus prevent default, counseling could also improve these borrowers understanding of their financial positions and thus affect prepayment. This paper shows that evaluations of counseling programs with a narrow focus on default may miss an important effect that counseling may have on prepayment. We use a competing risks framework to study the effects on both default and prepayment of a counseling program implemented in several Mid-West states. Our results indicate that the default hazard was not lower for the graduates of the counseling program but that the prepayment hazard was higher. Overall, counseling seems to affect lenders' profits but the net effect should be evaluated both in terms of prepayment and default.
This study examines the factors and behaviors that affect Southeast US farmers' ability to me... more This study examines the factors and behaviors that affect Southeast US farmers' ability to meet their loan payment obligations within the stipulated loan term. The study also estimates a credit risk model using farm-level financial information to determine the credit worthiness of various different farmers in different states and their possible repayment capabilities. The study uses a 10-year (2003-2012) pooled cross-sectional data from the USDA ARMS survey data (Phase III). A probit approach is used to regress delinquency against various borrower-specific, loan-specific, lender-specific, macroeconomic and climatic variables for the first part, whilst a logistic approach is used to regress farmers' coverage ratio (repayment capacity) on financial variables (liquidity, solvency, profitability, and financial efficiency) in addition with tenure, to determine how creditworthy the various kinds of farmers are, and in what particular states. The results show that farmers with larg...
The paper examines the impact of MFIs on microenterprises in Ghana. Employing the financing const... more The paper examines the impact of MFIs on microenterprises in Ghana. Employing the financing constraints approach and using 2007 BEEPS data, supported with a Propensity Score Matching method, results indicate that unconstrained microenterprises are less sensitive to internal funds and thus MFIs have alleviated financing constraints to an appreciable level.
Direct disaster payments have been criticized as inefficient and inequitable. In this article, th... more Direct disaster payments have been criticized as inefficient and inequitable. In this article, the impact of weather and climate, as well as economic and political variables, on crop disaster payments is analyzed using county level data from four states in the southeastern United States. The results of panel data analysis suggest that weather and climate variables explain most of the crop disaster payments at the county level while socioeconomic and political variables do not, suggesting that advancements in weather and climate forecasts could be helpful in budgeting.
This paper studies the impact of Affordable Care Act (ACA) dependent coverage expansion (DCE) on ... more This paper studies the impact of Affordable Care Act (ACA) dependent coverage expansion (DCE) on health care utilization, health care expenditures, and self-reported health status. We use five cross-sections of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) and employ both difference-in-difference (DID) and regression discontinuity design (RDD). Results show that ACA dependent provision increases total charges by $2,801.2 ($4,397.56) and total payment by $2,339.4 ($4,187.752) for participants with private (public) insurance, compared with those without health insurance. Young adults with health insurance pay $1,187.1 less for health care in total payments. At the same time, this provision did not increase the out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures. We also find no improvement in the self-reported health outcome. Specifically, ACA dependent provision increases dental visits, prescription medicines visits and the corresponding total charges and total payments, but it does not increase out-of-pocket expense associated with the above services. This provision did not affect hospital outpatient visits, emergency room visits, and vision aids.
The paper presents preliminary results of the analysis of cost efficiency of peanut production in... more The paper presents preliminary results of the analysis of cost efficiency of peanut production in the South-Eastern region utilizing data from the 2001 Peanut Farm Costs and Returns Survey. Stochastic cost frontier analysis using both Cobb-Douglas and translog functional forms is used as the most suitable given data availability and the nature of the industry. Estimation results are used in a discussion of the likely farm-level effects of the 2002 Farm Act, which substituted quota support with marketing assistance loan program. Contrary to our expectations, quota ownership did not significantly affect cost efficiency, which implies that quota ownership is not a discriminating factor in considering the effects of the Farm Act. Other producer characteristics, such as farm size and operator's age have significant effect on cost efficiency. These findings, however, must be treated with caution, as the survey data appears to be too noisy, and the underlying assumptions may not be app...
The aging of the US farm population coincides with economic pressures on farmers' incomes related... more The aging of the US farm population coincides with economic pressures on farmers' incomes related to recent market price volatility. In this paper, we identify the extent to which various economic and demographic factors affect retirement age farmers' exit and disinvestment. These decisions are modeled as outcomes of intertemporal utility maximization. We estimate exit and disinvestment regressions using the Census of Agriculture farm-level data on retirement age operators for the 1992-2012 period. The results highlight the role of demographic factors. Minority and female farmers are more likely to exit but female operators are less likely to disinvest, while family farms are less likely to exit. Farms with high annual sales are less likely to exit but more likely to disinvest possibly downsizing before retirement. The relative size of the local non-agricultural economy is negatively associated with exit but positively with disinvestment, while off-farm work slightly reduces exit probability. However, flow economic variables such as return-on-assets and government payments do not seem to impact exit and disinvestment. These findings are largely consistent with the view that it is mainly demographic factors and size that determine farmers' decisions to retire, which has important policy implications. A major demographic trend is underway in the US farming population. Recent data show that half of the US farmers are older than 58, over half of the landlords are older than 65, and these landlords are planning to transfer 91 million acres, or 10 percent of all agricultural land by 2020 (Agricultural Resources Management Survey, 2014). The aging of farm operators suggests that they may soon disinvest or exit farming. The aging of the landowners is likely to affect the supply of agricultural assets. These trends have implications for prices of land and other assets, availability of agricultural credit, the speed of technological innovation, rural areas depopulation and the rural economy overall. In this paper, we evaluate what factors affect farmers' exit and disinvestment from farming using Agricultural Census farm-level data for retirement age operators for the period 1992-2012.
One of the major demographic trends in the US is the aging of farm operators and landlords sugges... more One of the major demographic trends in the US is the aging of farm operators and landlords suggesting transition of farm ownership in the form of exit and disinvestment. This coincides with economic pressures on farmers incomes due to recent market volatility. We model retirement age farmers exit/disinvestment as the outcome of intertemporal utility maximization and identify the extent to which economic and demographic factors affect these choices using the Census of Agriculture farm-level data for the 1992-2012 period. Regression results highlight the role of demographic factors. Minority and female farmers are more likely to exit but female operators are less likely to disinvest, while family farms are less likely to exit. High sales farms are less likely to exit but more likely to disinvest possibly targeting a smaller production scale before retirement. The relative size of the non-agricultural economy is negatively associated with exit but positively with disinvestment, while o...
In this manuscript we evaluate if MFIs are able to meet their outreach and sustainability goals w... more In this manuscript we evaluate if MFIs are able to meet their outreach and sustainability goals when a banking crisis disrupts the banking system of a country. Since our study period includes another major financial and credit market event, we pay a special attention to the effects of banking crises pre-and post-2008, when a much broader financial crisis affected the financial systems of developed and developing countries alike. We analyze dataset of over 2000 annual observation for MFIs from over 60 countries for the period of 2001-2011. Our results indicate that MFIs in countries with a banking crisis served fewer borrowers and had better financial sustainability. Moreover, we find that post-2008, the global financial crisis forced MFIs to cut even more their outreach without effect on financial sustainability. Specifically, MFIs in countries with a banking crisis reached 1.373% fewer borrowers pre-2008 and that outreach decreased to 3 percent fewer borrowers after the 2008 global financial distress. These results support previous finding of a tradeoff between outreach and sustainability in that we find that in the pre-2008 financial crisis a banking crisis was associated with improved financial results. Microfinance banks were the most affected compared to other MFI business types. The results overall are consistent with the view that commercial banks might have curtailed lending to smaller businesses, some of whom might have found credit through microfinance institutions, especially microfinance banks. Thus, while not all banking crisis are the same, a banking crisis combined with additional financial markets distress is clearly associated with fewer borrowers being served by the microfinance industry even it not at the expense of these institutions financial sustainability.
While economies of scope of lending and mobilizing deposits in banking are justified
Agricultural Finance Review, 2022
PurposeThis paper identifies factors that affect entry and exit of beginning, young and women far... more PurposeThis paper identifies factors that affect entry and exit of beginning, young and women farmers and ranchers.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical framework is fixed effects regression analysis that uses county level data to evaluate how barriers to entry, access to and use of credit, local economic environment, and climate affect entry and exit of Beginning Farmers and Ranchers (BFRs). The dataset is assembled from several sources matching the Census of Agriculture years for the period of 1997–2017.FindingsResults show that new farmers are more likely to enter in counties with more and smaller farms and with lower farm productivity, indicating that BFRs have the potential to improve the overall productivity in such counties if able to grow and succeed. The results also indicate that the high capital intensity nature of farming is an effective barrier to entry. BFRs are more likely to do better in counties where agriculture is more important to the economy and with more off...
Uploads
Papers by Valentina Hartarska