Citation

Discussion Paper Details

Please find the details for DP12838 in an easy to copy and paste format below:

Full Details

Title: Dangers of a Double-Bottom Line: A Poverty Targeting Experiment Misses Both Targets

Author(s): Dean S. Karlan, Adam Osman and Jonathan Zinman

Publication Date: April 2018

Keyword(s): Corporate social responsibility, discrimination, double-bottom line, microcredit, Microfinance, Multi-tasking, poverty targeting and social business

Programme Area(s): Development Economics and Public Economics

Abstract: Two for-profit Philippine social enterprises, aiming to demonstrate corporate social responsibility by increasing microlending to the poor, incorporated a widely-used poverty measurement tool into their loan applications and tested the tool using randomized training content. Treated loan officers were instructed why and how to use the tool for targeting; control group training merely labelled the tool "additional household information". The targeting training backfired, leading to no additional poor applicants and lower-performing loans. Descriptive evidence suggests the targeting training exacerbated loan officer misperceptions and multitasking problems. Our results help explain why corporate social responsibility efforts are often siloed from core operations.

For full details and related downloads, please visit: https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=12838

Bibliographic Reference

Karlan, D, Osman, A and Zinman, J. 2018. 'Dangers of a Double-Bottom Line: A Poverty Targeting Experiment Misses Both Targets'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=12838