Microfinance is generally seen as a way to fix credit markets and unleash the productive capacities of poor people who … are dependent on self-employment. The microfinance sector has grown quickly since the 1990s, paving the way for other …, generating a backlash against microfinance. This paper reconsiders the claims about microfinance, highlighting the diversity in …

Against what standards should we judge the developing world's overall performance against poverty going forward? The …. The first measure is absolute consumption poverty, as judged by what "poverty" means in the poorest countries. The second … is a new measure of global poverty combining absolute poverty with country-specific social inclusion needs, consistently …

This paper compares for 13 Latin American countries the poverty and inequality impacts of cash transfer programs that … confined to the poor within each population group (that is, "poverty targeted" transfers). The analysis finds that both the … incidence of poverty and the depth of the poverty gap are important factors affecting the relative effectiveness of categorical …

countries comprising 97 percent of the world's population, this paper simulates a set of scenarios for global poverty from 2018 …The goals of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and working toward a more equal distribution of income are prominent in … poverty and inequality goals. The paper uses different assumptions about growth incidence curves to model changes in …

As the world approaches the target year of the Millennium Development Goals and passes into the new, post-2015 era, the … development community has made a call for a new international development goal of eradication of extreme poverty by 2030. How … feasible is that? For most of the developing world, the goal seems ambitious, yet achievable -- but what about the prospects …

Mobile banking is growing at a remarkable speed around the world. In the process it is creating considerable … considering the design of regulation of mobile banking. Since it lies at the interface between financial services and telecoms …, mobile banking also raises competition policy and interoperability issues that are discussed in the paper. Finally, by …

at the core of policymakers? agendas. The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor and the World Bank Group, in response … inform the policy debate. Using this database, this paper (i) counts the number of unbanked adults around the world at 56 …) discusses the state of financial inclusion mandates around the world …

Microfinance is often criticized for not adequately addressing seasonality and hard-core poverty. In Bangladesh, a … program known as PRIME was introduced in 2006 to address both concerns. Unlike regular microfinance, PRIME introduces a … microfinance scheme that offers a flexible repayment schedule and consumption smoothing, as well as production, loans. It targets …