Assessing The Impact Of Microcredit On Poverty: A Zambian Case Study by James Copestake, Sonia Bhalotra and Susan Johnson. Occasional Paper 02/00 December 2000 Centre for Development Studies Dept. Economics and International Development University of Bath, Bath BAZ 7AY, UK. "Expectations are high, but evidence of the impact of microcredit remains in short supply. This paper estimates the impact of an urban programme in Zambia on business performance and on a range of indicators of well being. Borrowers experienced significantly higher average growth in their profits and household income, but these effects were associated only with those who obtained a second loan. Inflexible group enforcement of loan obligations resulted in other borrowers being made worse off The paper suggests that the supply of rigorous impact studies can be increased by basing them on data collection that serves a wider range of purposes, including market research."
See also Implementing Impact Assessments and Monitoring Systems: A Practitioner Perspective From Zambia