Summary Markets can only function properly in the presence of sufficient trust. We explore the relation between trusting behavior and market integration in rural China. We link the results of a trust experiment to actual behavior in the field (participation in the labor market versus informally...

The adoption of certain farm management practices, such as tree planting and soil and water conservation, can reduce exposure to weather shocks. However, in many countries the adoption of such risk mitigating measures is far from complete. We explore how risk-sharing networks in the form of...

Although Africa’s indigenous systems of slavery have been extensively described in the historical literature, comparatively little attention has been paid to analyzing its long term impact on economic and political development. Based on data collected from anthropological records we conduct an...

Summary This symposium brings together recent empirical contributions with respect to a number of related and highly relevant issues on the economics of microfinance. In particular, the contributions provide answers to the following two main questions: (1) does microfinance have an impact on the...

Summary This paper uses stochastic frontier analysis to examine whether there is a trade-off between outreach to the poor and efficiency of microfinance institutions (MFIs). We find convincing evidence that outreach is negatively related to efficiency of MFIs. More specifically, we find that...