How has the microcredit movement managed to push financial frontiers? Theory shows that if borrowers vary in unobservable risk, then group‐based, joint liability contracts price for risk more accurately than individual contracts, provided that borrowers match with others of similar project...

We analyze the relationship between the underground (or shadow) economy and the formal or legal sector in the presence of corruption in both sectors. Firms choose between operating in the legal and in the underground economy. With morally heterogeneous law enforcement agents monitoring the...

Bribery, it has been argued, allocates resources efficiently. We show that this conclusion need not hold in a dynamic extension of a simple static model in which it does. When permits are awarded over time and applicants can reapply, a partially honest bureaucracy results in inefficiency. This...