La Microfinanza influisce sulla crescita economica? Un approccio empirico nei Paesi balcanici

Abstract: Microfinance has grown rapidly in recent years in the Western Balkans area with a dual mission: financial and social. The financial mission is to provide financial instruments and services to low-income individuals who would otherwise be excluded from the traditional banking system. The social mission, on the other hand, is to guarantee credit for investments and other activities in order to improve the social well-being of the people. Micro-credit could greatly improve the socio-economic well-being of the recipients. The purpose of this study, starting from these elements, is to examine the effect of the investment activities of microfinance institutions on the growth of jobs and the well-being of the community in the western Balkan area. The observation focuses on the economic transition period (2013-2020) using annual data. The analysis will make use of the empiri-cal model, taking into consideration the aspects of cointegration and econometric techniques for controlling the robustness of the results. The expected results from this study will allow us to state that microfinance is an important tool for making small investments, which will help improve the standard of living of citizens and therefore social well-being in the various countries of the Balkan area, with immediate effects and in the short term.