The Effects of Financial Access to Small Business and Households

This dissertation contains three essays on small business and household access to finance in Indonesia following the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. We find that in financial markets with larger banks, there are less loans available for small businesses. We also find that the probability that households borrow from informal institutions varies greatly, depending on their organisational structure. Lastly, we find that households run down assets and savings to finance consumption after health shocks. Increasing informal borrowing can also finance consumption, but it depends on the duration, and severity, of illness.