Technical Change in the Peruvian Regulated Microfinance Sector

This study evaluates and quantifies the technical change in the Peruvian regulated microfinance sector during the period 2003–2015 estimating a translog cost function. We found technical deterioration between 2005 and 2015 due to the differentiated effects that the technical innovations, implemented by the MFIs, had on their production costs. In the analysis by groups of MFIs, all groups converged at a technical deterioration rate between 8.6 and 9.13% in the last year. Problems in the implementation, execution, and/or management of the new technologies as well as the difficulty in achieving reductions in the variable costs may explain these results.