Seasonal hunger is a form of deprivation in Bangladesh, especially in greater Rangpur. For policymaking purpose, knowing who are going to be in seasonal hunger in future is more important than knowing who already are. Our analysis shows that both ex post and ex ante measures of seasonal...

The poor households in the northwest region of Bangladesh are highly vulnerable to the seasonal food deprivation locally known as monga. Households adopt different strategies to cope with monga, including the advance sale of labor or crop as well as seasonal out-migration. Some 36 percent of...

This paper analyzes the nexus among risk, deprivation and vulnerability that confront the rural poor in their daily life. It examines the nature of shocks, the consequent economic burden, and the coping mechanisms. It explains how shocks affect deprivation and vulnerability of households to...

This study presents an empirical analysis of the cost effi ciency of a sample of microfi nance institutions (MFIs) operating in Bangladesh. These MFIs substantially vary in size and can also be characterised by their affi liation with donor and funding agencies. Therefore, the measurement of...

The microfinance industry in Bangladesh has seen emergence of large variations in the size of the institutions operating in the market. Data from a recent survey of Pathrail union in Tangail district reveals that within the local market competition is becoming more and more intense over time....

Bangladesh lagged in microfinance regulation until 2006 when it established Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA). So far, MRA has granted license to around 650 Microfinance Institutions (MFIs); and has been supervising them with prudential and non-prudential regulations. We assessed the impact...

This paper, using several data sets, investigates whether microcredit programmes, which have been operating in rural Bangladesh for over 20 years, have any long-term effects in improving household income and expenditure and lowering poverty. Both descriptive and econometric analyses show that...

This paper examines the role of social safety net problems run by government and NGOs in mitigating seasonal deprivation in a highly vulnerable region of Bangladesh. The paper also explores whether social safety nets help only avert seasonal deprivation or also address seasonality of income and...

This paper addresses whether microcredit participants in Bangladesh are trapped in poverty and debt, as many critics have argued in recent years. Analysis of data from a long panel survey over a 20-year period confirms this is not the case, although numerous participants have been with...

In less-developed economies such as Bangladesh where the farm sector is the major source of employment and income, the rural non-farm sector (RNF) often as an additional source of income increasingly plays an important role in fostering the development of the rural economy, and microenterprise...