In this valuable new book, a distinguished group of authors takes stock of the existing state of knowledge in the field of finance and the development process. Each chapter offers a comprehensive survey and synthesis of current issues. These include such critical subjects as savings, financial...

This paper reviews the achievements of the 'microfinance revolution', through reference to the now extensive literature. It finds that there are many opportunities to improve and innovate. To illustrate this finding, the paper concentrates on examining what we need to know to design and deliver...

This paper identifies key processes shaping the microfinance sector in the coming decades. The paper examines the geography of microfinance, highlighting differing evolution patterns and challenges across the world. It looks at the widespread adoption of a financial systems approach in the...

This paper looks at the establishment and evolution of the iconic Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. It traces the development of the Bank from its origins, providing microcredit to poor, rural women in Bangladesh, through a period of national expansion and institutionalisation, to the replication...

The paper distinguishes between a 'wider' definition of wider impacts (which takes into account feedbacks from impacts to institutional performance) and a 'narrower' definition, which does not. In respect of both definitions, the paper sets out a typology of the effects which need to be measured...

Studies of poverty dynamics relying solely on household income-expenditure surveys can yield noisy results, overestimating transient poverty and underestimating persistence of poverty, especially for the poorest. In this study, we make use of an approach that relies on community based change...