Does the Participation in the Microcredit Programs Increase Consumption of Participating Households? The Case of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh

This paper assesses empirically the impact of the participation in the microcredit program of the Grameen Bank on consumption of participating households. A household level survey was carried out for collecting data (N=521). The results of the empirical estimations indicate that the participation of a household in the microcredit program of the Grameen Bank increases consumption of participating households significantly. But there is non-linearity in the increasing trend in consumption of participating households. The consumption level goes up gradually with the increase in the membership duration up to five years of membership, but the growth rate starts declining after that period of membership.