Collateral can increase access to finance, especially for small firms, and lead to better terms for loan contracts. Many argue that firms are excluded from formal credit markets because they lack assets that can serve as collateral. In fact, firms generally have a wide array of productive assets...

Many laws and regulations in developing countries drive small businesspeople out of the formal banking sector and into the hands of high-cost and sometimes unscrupulous moneylenders in the informal sector. The author looks at these barriers to credit for small farmers and firms and suggests...