“Market penetration” is often used as a criterion for microfinance funders, particularly investors, in microfinance asset allocation and portfolio construction. For years, low global market penetration has served as an argument of why investing in microfinance was advisable, often without...

This paper proposes novel identification techniques to examine the trade-offs that microfinance institutions face between increasing their profits and their social impact. It uses a quantile regression approach to examine how these trade-offs evolve as institutions become more commercialized....