Empowerment of Microcredit Participants and Its Spillover Effects: Evidence from the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh

This paper analyzes how participation in microcredit program helps to reduce the fertility rate. By using the data from the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, the paper also examines whether the accomplished empowerment of the microcredit borrower remains limited only to economic activities or also reflected in their non-economic activities. The results show that the Grameen Bank transforms its participants from a passive recipient of credit to a well responsive and active agent in economic and non-economic aspects of life. This transformation sets up an encouraging context for the effective public policies for economic and social changes at a reduced transaction cost.