This thesis examines factors that determine household reliance on interlinked informal credit contracts for fish in the Peruvian Amazon, and the degree to which implicit interest rates in these contracts are explained by transaction costs, administrative costs and lender risk. / A probit model was used to determine household likelihood to borrow, using survey data collected in the region. This likelihood is found to depend on access to alternative activities to generate income, household resilience to income volatility, and demographics: age, education and mobility. / High implicit interest rates (112%) are not explained by the average costs (67%) incurred by local lenders. Market access and household demand elasticity seem to be the main factors determining the degree to which forest peasants are exploited. Local lenders are found to receive credit at rates below the cost to non-resident lenders who use the credit relationship to secure a supply of fish.

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