Subjective cost of credit, access to financial services, and household well-being

Within the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), marked socioeconomic disparities and scarce credit underscore the development stakes of linking credit costs, financial access, and household well-being. While credit is often touted as a poverty-reduction tool, its welfare effect hinges on interest-rate levels, whether objectively observed or subjectively perceived. Drawing on the 2018 and 2021 World Bank Harmonized Household Living Standards Surveys and estimating mixed-effects models, we analyze heterogenous impacts across social, economic, and geographic strata

在西非经济与货币联盟（West African Economic and Monetary Union, WAEMU）区域内，显著的社会经济鸿沟与信贷资源供给不足，凸显了将信贷成本、金融可得性与家庭福祉三者统筹关联的发展关键命题。尽管信贷常被宣称为减贫利器，但其福利效应取决于利率水平——无论该利率是客观观测得到的数值，还是主观感知的水平。本研究依托2018年与2021年世界银行统一家庭生活水平调查（Harmonized Household Living Standards Surveys）数据，并通过估计混合效应模型，分析了信贷在社会、经济与地理群体层级间的异质性影响。