Independent research & practical ideas for global prosperity

Dean Karlan

Recent Research

How Can Bill and Melinda Gates Increase Other People’s Donations to Fund Public Goods? - Working Paper 292
Group Versus Individual Liability: A Field Experiment in the Philippines - Working Paper 111, updated May 2009
Credit Elasticities in Less-Developed Economies: Implications for Microcredit - Working Paper 110

Non-Resident Fellow

Microfinance, Health, Political Economy

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Education: Ph.D, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Media Contact: Catherine An

Dean Karlan is a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development and a Professor of Economics at Yale University. Karlan is also President of Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), co-director of the Financial Access Initiative, a consortium created with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a research fellow of the M.I.T. Jameel Poverty Action Lab, and co-Founder and President of StickK.com. In 2007, he received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and in 2008 a Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship. His research focuses on microeconomic issues of financial decision-making, specifically employing experimental methodologies to examine what works, what does not, and why in interventions in microfinance and health. Internationally, he focuses on microfinance, and domestically, he focuses on voting, charitable giving, and commitment contracts. In microfinance, he has studied interest rate policy, credit evaluation and scoring policies, entrepreneurship training, group versus individual liability, savings product design, credit with education, and impact from increased access to credit.

His work on savings and health typically uses insights from psychology and behavioral economics to design and test specialized products. He has consulted for the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, FINCA International and the Guatemalan government. Karlan received a Ph.D. in Economics from M.I.T., an M.B.A. and an M.P.P. from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. in International Affairs from the University of Virginia.

New Popular Working Papers Events Selected Works

How Can Bill and Melinda Gates Increase Other People’s Donations to Fund Public Goods? - Working Paper 292 - Apr 18, 2012

The reasons why people give to charities vary from individual to individual, but it is clear that large, public gifts to a charity from well-known donors increase the number and size of smaller individual gifts. In this working paper, Dean Karlan and John A. List show that the effect has to do...
Group Versus Individual Liability: A Field Experiment in the Philippines - Working Paper 111, updated May 2009 - Jan 29, 2007

Group liability--wherein individuals are both borrowers and guarantors of other client's loans--is often described as the key innovation that led to the explosion of microcredit. It is thought to create incentives for peers to screen, monitor and enforce each other's loans. But some argue that...
Credit Elasticities in Less-Developed Economies: Implications for Microcredit - Working Paper 110 - Jan 29, 2007

Policymakers often urge microfinance institutions to increase interest rates to eliminate reliance on subsidies. This makes sense if the poor will borrow regardless of interest rates: then micro lenders increase profitability without reducing the poor's access to credit. But there is little...
Observing Unobservables: Identifying Information Asymmetries with a Consumer Credit Field Report - Working Paper 109 - Jan 29, 2007

Information asymmetries--which occur when one party to a transaction has more or better information than the other party--can cause inefficiency, over-investment, or poverty traps. Unfortunately, they are difficult to identify in practice. In this working paper, CGD non-resident fellow Dean...
Expanding Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts - Working Paper 108 - Jan 29, 2007

Microfinance is generally credited with helping to alleviate poverty and improve the lives of the poor. But as microfinance institutions move beyond entrepreneurial credit to offering consumer loans, many practitioners and policymakers are skeptical about "unproductive" lending. In this working...
Teaching Entrepreneurship: Impact of Business Training on Microfinance Clients and Institutions - Working Paper 107, updated May 2009 - Jan 29, 2007

Can one teach basic entrepreneurship skills? A growing number of microfinance organizations are trying, in the hopes of improving the livelihood of their clients and to further their mission of poverty alleviation. In this working paper, CGD non-resident fellow Dean Karlan and his co-author...
Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines - Working Paper 106 - Jan 29, 2007

Microfinance is often viewed as a tool for empowering women. However, it is not clear that increasing a woman's share of household income also improves her status within the household. In this working paper, CGD non-resident fellow Dean Karlan and his co-authors examine whether access to...

How Can Bill and Melinda Gates Increase Other People’s Donations to Fund Public Goods? - Working Paper 292 - Apr 18, 2012

The reasons why people give to charities vary from individual to individual, but it is clear that large, public gifts to a charity from well-known donors increase the number and size of smaller individual gifts. In this working paper, Dean Karlan and John A. List show that the effect has to do...
Expanding Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts - Working Paper 108 - Jan 29, 2007

Microfinance is generally credited with helping to alleviate poverty and improve the lives of the poor. But as microfinance institutions move beyond entrepreneurial credit to offering consumer loans, many practitioners and policymakers are skeptical about "unproductive" lending. In this working...
Group Versus Individual Liability: A Field Experiment in the Philippines - Working Paper 111, updated May 2009 - Jan 29, 2007

Group liability--wherein individuals are both borrowers and guarantors of other client's loans--is often described as the key innovation that led to the explosion of microcredit. It is thought to create incentives for peers to screen, monitor and enforce each other's loans. But some argue that...
Observing Unobservables: Identifying Information Asymmetries with a Consumer Credit Field Report - Working Paper 109 - Jan 29, 2007

Information asymmetries--which occur when one party to a transaction has more or better information than the other party--can cause inefficiency, over-investment, or poverty traps. Unfortunately, they are difficult to identify in practice. In this working paper, CGD non-resident fellow Dean...
Teaching Entrepreneurship: Impact of Business Training on Microfinance Clients and Institutions - Working Paper 107, updated May 2009 - Jan 29, 2007

Can one teach basic entrepreneurship skills? A growing number of microfinance organizations are trying, in the hopes of improving the livelihood of their clients and to further their mission of poverty alleviation. In this working paper, CGD non-resident fellow Dean Karlan and his co-author...
Credit Elasticities in Less-Developed Economies: Implications for Microcredit - Working Paper 110 - Jan 29, 2007

Policymakers often urge microfinance institutions to increase interest rates to eliminate reliance on subsidies. This makes sense if the poor will borrow regardless of interest rates: then micro lenders increase profitability without reducing the poor's access to credit. But there is little...
Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines - Working Paper 106 - Jan 29, 2007

Microfinance is often viewed as a tool for empowering women. However, it is not clear that increasing a woman's share of household income also improves her status within the household. In this working paper, CGD non-resident fellow Dean Karlan and his co-authors examine whether access to...

How Can Bill and Melinda Gates Increase Other People’s Donations to Fund Public Goods? - Working Paper 292 - Apr 18, 2012

The reasons why people give to charities vary from individual to individual, but it is clear that large, public gifts to a charity from well-known donors increase the number and size of smaller individual gifts. In this working paper, Dean Karlan and John A. List show that the effect has to do...
Group Versus Individual Liability: A Field Experiment in the Philippines - Working Paper 111, updated May 2009 - Jan 29, 2007

Group liability--wherein individuals are both borrowers and guarantors of other client's loans--is often described as the key innovation that led to the explosion of microcredit. It is thought to create incentives for peers to screen, monitor and enforce each other's loans. But some argue that...
Credit Elasticities in Less-Developed Economies: Implications for Microcredit - Working Paper 110 - Jan 29, 2007

Policymakers often urge microfinance institutions to increase interest rates to eliminate reliance on subsidies. This makes sense if the poor will borrow regardless of interest rates: then micro lenders increase profitability without reducing the poor's access to credit. But there is little...
Teaching Entrepreneurship: Impact of Business Training on Microfinance Clients and Institutions - Working Paper 107, updated May 2009 - Jan 29, 2007

Can one teach basic entrepreneurship skills? A growing number of microfinance organizations are trying, in the hopes of improving the livelihood of their clients and to further their mission of poverty alleviation. In this working paper, CGD non-resident fellow Dean Karlan and his co-author...
Observing Unobservables: Identifying Information Asymmetries with a Consumer Credit Field Report - Working Paper 109 - Jan 29, 2007

Information asymmetries--which occur when one party to a transaction has more or better information than the other party--can cause inefficiency, over-investment, or poverty traps. Unfortunately, they are difficult to identify in practice. In this working paper, CGD non-resident fellow Dean...
Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines - Working Paper 106 - Jan 29, 2007

Microfinance is often viewed as a tool for empowering women. However, it is not clear that increasing a woman's share of household income also improves her status within the household. In this working paper, CGD non-resident fellow Dean Karlan and his co-authors examine whether access to...
Expanding Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts - Working Paper 108 - Jan 29, 2007

Microfinance is generally credited with helping to alleviate poverty and improve the lives of the poor. But as microfinance institutions move beyond entrepreneurial credit to offering consumer loans, many practitioners and policymakers are skeptical about "unproductive" lending. In this working...

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More Than Good Intentions—How a New Economics Is Helping to Solve Global Poverty - May 12, 2011
Center for Global Development presents More Than Good Intentions How a New Economics is Helping to Solve Global Poverty Featuring Dean Karlan Professor of Economics Yale University and Non-Resident Fellow Center for Global Development Jacob Appel Researcher Innovations for...

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