If you're unable to access a paper, please email me at cynthia dot kinnan at tufts dot edu and I'll send you a copy!

Journal publications:


Kinship and Financial Networks, Formal Financial Access and Risk Reduction, with Robert Townsend. American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, 102(2), May 2012.


The miracle of microfinance? Evidence from a randomized evaluation, with Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Rachel Glennerster. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 7(1), January 2015. 

Data and online appendix | Press coverage: The Economist


Impact of family planning and business trainings on private sector health providers in Nigeria, with J. Ugaz, A. Leegwater, M. Chatterji, D. Johnson, S. Baruwa and M. Toriola. International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 43(2) June 2017.


Social Networks as Contract Enforcement: Evidence from a lab experiment in the field, with Arun Chandrasekhar and Horacio Larreguy. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 10(4), October 2018. (Ungated version)


Access to Migration for Rural Households, with Shing-Yi Wang and Yongxiang Wang. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 10(4), October 2018. (Ungated version)

Press coverage: VoxDev


Measuring the equilibrium impacts of credit: Evidence from the Indian microfinance crisis, with Emily Breza. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 136(3), August 2021.

Data Ungated version | Press coverage: VoxDev


Distinguishing barriers to insurance in Thai villages. Journal of Human Resources, 57(1), January 2022. (Ungated version)

Press coverage: JHR research highlights


What Predicts the Growth of Small Firms? Evidence from Tanzanian Commercial Loan Data, with Mia Ellis, Margaret McMillan and Sarah Shaukat. Journal of Globalization and Development, 14(2), 2023. (Ungated version)


Propagation and Insurance in Village Networks, with Krislert Samphantharak, Robert Townsend and Diego Vera-Cossio . American Economic Review, 114(1), January 2024. (Ungated version)

Appendix | Replication data | Press coverage: GlobalDev | VoxDev | IDB (English) (Spanish)


General equilibrium effects in microcredit, with Aanchal Bagga. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 40(1), 2024.  (Ungated version)


Changes in Social Network Structure in Response to Exposure to Formal Credit Markets, with Abhijit Banerjee, Emily Breza, Arun Chandrasekhar, Esther Duflo and Matthew Jackson. Review of Economic Studies 91(3), 2024.  (Ungated version

Appendix | Replication data | Press coverage: VoxDev


Other publications:


Jing Cai, Muhammad Meki, Simon Quinn, Erica Field, Cynthia Kinnan, Jonathan Morduch, Jonathan de Quidt, and Farah Said, “Microfinance”, VoxDevLit, 3(1), May 2021 . Link


Working papers:


Can microfinance unlock a poverty trap for some entrepreneurs?, with Abhijit Banerjee, Emily Breza and Esther Duflo, 2024. [NEW DRAFT!]

Press coverage: VoxDev


Evaluating and pricing health insurance in low-income countries: A field experiment in India, with Anup Malani, Gabriella Conti, Kosuke Imai, Morgen Miller, Shailender Swaminathan, Alessandra Voena, Bartosz Woda, 2024.  [NEW DRAFT!]

Online Appendix | NBER WP | Press coverage: VoxDev | Ideas for India (English) (Hindi)  | LiveMint | Becker Friedman Institute | Baseline questionnaire



Work in Progress:

Skills and Capital for aspiring entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, with C. Austin Davis and Mushfiq Mobarak 


Direct and market level effects of digital rapid credit in Tanzania, with Joeri Smits


China's City Building Programmes and Urbanisation, with Pengzhan Qian and Yu Zheng


Women's Productivity and Intrahousehold Allocation: Evidence from SOE Reforms in China, with Raul Santaeulalia-Llopis and Yu Zheng


Microfinance as commitment savings: Evidence from the AP crisis aftermath, with Abhijit Banerjee, Emily Breza, Esther Duflo and K. B. Prathap


Mobile money and adopters’ social networks, with Alfredo Burlando and Silvia Prina


Information, networks and informal insurance: Evidence from a lab experiment in the field, with Arun Chandrasekhar and Horacio Larreguy

This version: August 2011