This paper presents evidence on the reliability of claims in the literature on microfinance institutions (MFIs) regarding the role of interest rates and institutional design in helping MFIs to realize financial self-sufficiency. It pools data from 426 institutions in 41 developing countries from...

Given the substantial amount of resources currently invested in microcredit programmes, it is more important than ever to accurately assess the extent to which peer monitoring actually reduces moral hazard among borrowers faced with group liability. We conduct a field experiment with women about...

In the late 1990s, China enacted a rural tax reform known as the "Tax-for-Fee Reform" (TFR), largely driven by a desire to address farmers' complaints about what they perceived as a heavy and regressive tax burden. This study examines the impact of the TFR on inequality in rural villages in...

This paper investigates the determinants of fertility and their changes in recent years, empirically, drawing upon large household data-sets in India, namely National Family Health Survey data over the period 1992--2006. It is found that there is a negative and significant association between...

Most studies of land taxation in Asia have found that its importance has declined over the 20th century, as a proportion of total government revenues and often in absolute terms. In fact, this decline started well before 1940 in most colonial territories in Asia, as well as in Japan. The paper...