In developing and transition economies, microlending has become an effective instrument for providing micro businesses with the necessary financial resources to launch operations. In the industrialized countries, with their highly developed banking systems, however, there has been ongoing debate...

In developing and transition economies, microlending has become an effective instrument for providing micro businesses with the necessary financial resources to launch operations. In the industrialized countries, with their highly developed banking systems, however, there has been ongoing debate...

We analyze the incentive mechanism of individual micro-lending contracts and we compare its key factors with those of joint-liability loan contracts. Using our data set, we firstly show that in the individual contract there are three elements, the demand for non-conventional collateral, a...

We empirically examine the efficacy of various incentives of microlending contracts such as joint-liability or group access to future loans. We find that joint liability induces a group formation of low risk borrowers. Furthermore, the incentive system leads to peer measures between the...

While in less developed and in transition economies microlending has become an efficient instrument for providing small and micro businesses with the necessary financial means, in industrialized countries, with highly developed banking systems, the existence and size of an uncovered demand for...

Fehlende Finanzierung wird als ein zentraler Grund angesehen, warum kleine Unternehmen scheitern. Seit einigen Jahren wird daher versucht, das Instrument der Mikrokredite auch in Deutschland zu etablieren. Eine erste empirische Studie zeigt, dass rund 15 Prozent aller Selbständigen Interesse an...

We empirically examine the efficacy of various incentives of microlending contracts such as joint-liability or group access to future loans. We find that joint liability induces a group formation of low risk borrowers. Furthermore, the incentive system leads to peer measures between the...