Financial inclusion plays an important role in giving households greater access to borrowing opportunities, which in turn can be used to improve human capital accumulation, socioeconomic status, and long-run economic development. One way to enhance households' access to and usage of the...

This paper lays out some of the basic concepts surrounding financial inclusion, including access to banking, digital payments and financial literacy, as well as markets for health insurance, crop insurance, agricultural credit, small firm finance, and microcredit/ microfinance. It goes on to...

We analyze the relationship between Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and external donors, with the aim of contributing to the debate on "mission drift" in microfinance. We assume that both the donor and the MFI are pro-poor, possibly at different extents. Borrowers can be (very) poor or...

The rural non-farm sector plays an important role in diversifying income for rural households in developing countries and has the potential to emerge as a major source of employment. In some cases it has outgrown the agricultural sector, in part due to the expansion of credit through...

Whereas most research into microfinance tends to focus on the impact of access to such services, very little pays attention to what happens over time once a person becomes a client. The paper aims at analysing the conditions of loan renewals as most microfinance institutions foster client...

While microfinance institutions (MFIs) are increasingly important as employers in the developing world, there is little micro-level evidence on gender differences among MFI employees and MFIs' relation to economic development. We use a unique panel dataset of employees from Latin America's...

This paper conducts a thorough data analysis using cross-sectional data from a study carried out in Mexico including over 16,500 observations. In the study, clusters were selected in areas Compartamos Banco, a Microfinance institution (MFI), has not lent in before. The clusters were randomly...

In the decade before the famine, Ireland experienced a boom in Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). This paper analyses the motivations of MFI proponents and practitioners, and finds evidence linking the boom in MFIs with the introduction of the poor law in 1838. Many contemporary writers saw...

Microfinance contracts have enormous economic and welfare significance. We study, theoretically and empirically, the problem of effort choice under individual liability (IL) and joint liability (JL) contracts when loan repayments are made either privately, or publicly in front of one's social...

This paper conducts a thorough data analysis using cross-sectional data from a study carried out in Mexico including over 16,500 observations. In the study, clusters were selected in areas Compartamos Banco, a Microfinance institution (MFI), has not lent in before. The clusters were randomly...

In the decade before the famine, Ireland experienced a boom in Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). This paper analyses the motivations of MFI proponents and practitioners, and finds evidence linking the boom in MFIs with the introduction of the poor law in 1838. Many contemporary writers saw...

This paper considers the possibility of mission drift in microfinance; a situation where Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) move away from targeting the poor and towards better-off clients. Using two different measures of poverty, the paper examines whether microfinance institutions in Uganda follow...

In Thailand, the government has long recognized the importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to the economy and has given a large amount of financial support to this sector. Still, SMEs are not able to catch up with larger enterprises and the constraints to SME financing remain...

This paper presents a model of the complete microcredit financing chain investor - MIV - MFI - micro-borrower, in which social-minded MIVs provide funds only to those MFIs which do not exploit their bargaining power towards micro-borrowers. The MFIs with the highest bargaining power do not use...

Like in many other countries, inclusive finance for inclusive growth has become a policy issue in Bangladesh following the global financial crisis in 2008. Over the past 10 years, intensity of financial deepening and access to financial services has increased. Both banks and microfinance...

The study aims at testing the Ghana Microfinance Policy set up to support the vulnerable through access to credit. We resort to the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition to determine if there is positive discrimination in favor of women and young entrepreneurs in the rationing behavior of the...

Six randomized control trials were published simultaneously in one issue of the 'American Economic Journal: Applied Economics' in 2015. The studies show no or minimal impact from providing microloans to clients and have led many researchers and policy makers to conclude that microfinance has...

Muhammad Yunus is one of the world's leading social entrepreneurs, having been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. This microfinance institution is the largest one until today, counting eight million borrowers. We conducted research on Grameen Bank, related...

Financial inclusion and financial literacy are receiving increasing attention for their potential to contribute to economic and financial development while fostering more inclusive growth and greater income equality. In general, the progress of financial inclusion and financial development in...

This study compares the responsiveness of microcredit interest rates to age, scale of lending and organisational charter. It uses an unbalanced panel of 300 MFIs from 107 developing countries from 2005 to 2015. Three key trends emerge from the results of a 2SLS regression. First, the adoption of...

Poverty remains a pervasive problem all over the world, but the problem is worst in underdeveloped areas like Africa. While microfinance is supposed to address this problem through the promotion of viable businesses, it has not been very successful in helping survival microenterprises, i.e.,...

Although one of the primary objectives of microfinance has been the reduction of poverty through the provision of credit for income-generating purposes, evidence of its impact on poverty has been mixed. Even if there is no direct impact of microfinance, there may be an indirect positive impact...

Financial inclusion and financial literacy are receiving increasing attention for their potential to contribute to economic and financial development while fostering more inclusive growth and greater income equality. In general, the progress of financial inclusion and financial development in...

Poverty remains a pervasive problem all over the world, but the problem is worst in underdeveloped areas like Africa. While microfinance is supposed to address this problem through the promotion of viable businesses, it has not been very successful in helping survival microenterprises, i.e.,...

Although one of the primary objectives of microfinance has been the reduction of poverty through the provision of credit for income-generating purposes, evidence of its impact on poverty has been mixed. Even if there is no direct impact of microfinance, there may be an indirect positive impact...

Six randomized control trials were published simultaneously in one issue of the “American Economic Journal: Applied Economics” in 2015. The studies show no or minimal impact from providing microloans to clients and have led many researchers and policy makers to conclude that microfinance has...

The study assesses the macro-financial situation of Belarus. It analyses the Belarus financial sector, with a specific look at the banking sector. Moreover this study explores the private sector financing environment. In particular the study investigates the SMEs segment and looks at the needs...

This study compares the responsiveness of microcredit interest rates to age, scale of lending and organisational charter. It uses an unbalanced panel of 300 MFIs from 107 developing countries from 2005 to 2015. Three key trends emerge from the results of a 2SLS regression. First, the adoption of...

Online peer to peer lending (P2P) - allows people who want to borrow money to submit their applications on the platform and individual investors can make bids on the loan listings. The quality of information in credit appraisal becomes paramount in this market. The existing research to assess...

Muhammad Yunus is one of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs, having been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. This microfinance institution is the largest one until today, counting eight million borrowers. We conducted research on Grameen Bank,...

Este informe examina si los bancos públicos de varios países seleccionados de América Latina promueven la inclusión financiera para la inserción productiva de las empresas de menor porte; y cómo lo hacen. El enfoque del análisis se centra en estudiar si estas instituciones han innovado en...

Digital technologies are rapidly making inroads into all realms of human life and the microfinance sector is one such area. Ongoing innovations in digital technology are contributing to reshaping its operational models, governance structures, its risk profile, industry networks and dominant...