We analyzed the depth of outreach of ®ve micro®nance organizations in La Paz, Bolivia. The ®rst step was to construct a theoretical framework in which depth is one of six aspects of outreach. The second step was to compare the poverty of a sample of the borrowers of the ®ve lenders with the poverty of all the house- holds in La Paz.
We found ®ve main results. First, improved social welfare from microcredit depends not only on depth of outreach but also on worth, cost, breadth, length, and scope. Length matters most since the drive for length leads to incentives that prompt improvements in the other aspects. Second, the lenders in La Paz tended to serve not the poorest but rather those near the poverty line. Most micro®nance organizations will probably serve this same niche. The poorest are less likely to be credit- worthy and to demand loans, and many of the nonpoor can borrow elsewhere. Third, because the distribution of demand and creditworthi- ness unconditional on supply is unknown, we