# **What Does Debt Relief do for Development? Supplemental Appendix**

## **A Data Appendix**

_Debt Relief_ : ’Debt Relief’ refers to the total amount of debt relief granted as a result of the program. ’Eligible Amount’ refers to the total outstanding balance to which the program rules were applied, denominated in Indian Rupees and published on bank beneficiary lists as of February 28, 2008. ’Eligible Amount, Total’ is the sum of ’Eligible Amount, Principal’ and ’Eligible Amount, Interest’.

_Landholdings:_ Land pledged as collateral at the time of loan origination (a) Bank recorded: land pledged as collateral at the time of loan origination from published beneficiary lists for 5,554 households within _±._ 5 hectares of the program cutoff (b) Audited land records: printouts of electronic (eDhara) land records for a sub-sample of 2,064 surveyed households.

_Investment:_ ’Total investment’ includes investment in irrigation, pesticides, non-organic fertilizer and plowing, averaged over one dry season and one monsoon season before the program (pre-program investment) and one dry season and one monsoon season after the program (post-program investment), and winsorized at the 99th percentile. ’Investment per Acre’ is calculated as productivity per self reported acres of land prior to the program.

_Productivity:_ Revenue from sale of crops, averaged over one dry season and one monsoon season prior to the program the program (pre-program productivity) and one dry season and one monsoon season after the program (post-program productivity) and winsorized at the 99th percentile. ’Revenue per acre’ is measured as total revenue per self-reported acres of land prior to the program.

_Total Debt:_ Total Debt refers to self-reported debt from formal and informal sources, at the time of the survey and prior to the program. Formal credit includes loans from private and public banks. Informal credit includes loans from family and friends, moneylenders, traders and shopkeepers.

_Sources of Credit:_ Responses to the question “Of the amount you borrowed for agricultural production, what percentage comes from each of the following sources” (in the current year and one year prior to the program. Formal credit includes loans from private and public commercial banks. Informal credit includes loans from family and friends, moneylenders, traders and shopkeepers.

_Expectations:_ (a) Reputational consequences of default: responses to survey question “If you defaulted on a loan from the following lender, how likely would this be to tarnish your reputation in your community?” (b) access to credit: “If a borrower like you defaulted on one of the following lenders due to a bad harvest or other unforeseen circumstances, how worried does he have to be that he will not be able to borrow from this source in the future?” _Savings and Consumption:_ ’Savings’ refers to total households savings at the time of the survey and in the year prior to the program. Consumption: (a) Total consumption expenditure on staples and consumption goods, including food, cigarettes and tobacco, and entertainment over the 30-day period prior to the survey (b) Total consumption expenditure on durable goods in the year since the program.

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