Financial intermediaries [FIs] in developing and emerging economies are poorly equipped to manage natural disasters. These events create losses for FIs, eroding capital reserves and compromising their ability to lend. Portfolio-level insurance against disasters can improve FI management of these...

Replaced by updated/revised version. This is an electronic version of a journal article, please cite as: Collier, B., A.L. Katchova, and J. Skees. “Loan Portfolio Performance and El Nino, an Intervention Analysis.” Agricultural Finance Review 71(2011):98-119.

As one of the instrument to enhance the microfinance institution's self-sustainability, credit scoring models that have been widely used in formal financial institutions can be used in the practice of microfinance. The statistic model will be established and tested to realize that goal.

This paper reexamines foreign currency markets for evidence of fractional integration, and extends the extant literature in several important dimensions. First, we utilize a new semiparametric wavelet-based estimator, which is far superior to the more prevalent GPH estimator on the basis of mean...

This study analyzes how rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) in Senegal were able to overcome the collective action dilemma, maintain institutional performance, and remain sustainable over time. This study models cooperation among members as well as the performance and...

Relatively few farmers regularly use tax-favored retirement accounts to diversify long-term farm assets with nonfarm savings. The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 creates new investment opportunities for both IRAs and regular capital assets. Complex tradeoffs exist among new tax incentives, possible...

We investigate the objectives of agricultural bank managers and their impacts on bank efficiency. If managers are non-neutral toward risk, then banks may appear inefficient when they are not. We find non-neutrality toward risk and efficiency gains due to firm size, loan shares, asset shares, and...

Repeat borrowing is critical for the long-term financial viability of microfinance institutions (MFIs), which provide financial services to low-income households in developing countries. Repeat borrowers reduce MFI administrative costs, lower risks, and increase institutional productivity. In...