University Meets Microfinance

Even though traditional microfinance has successfully paved the way for offering financial services to low-income populations without traditional collateral, many microfinance institutions (MFIs) are still reluctant to move into rural areas and agricultural finance, due to the perceived high ...

Nicole Tode evaluates the possible institutional development of Moroccan microcredit associations which intend to transform themselves from the status of non-governmental institutions (NGOs) into regulated microfinance banks. Such a transformation might increase their asset base, number of ...

Why does a large proportion of India’s urban poor choose to pay for private health services when public services are essentially free of charge? Drawing from previous research, this study takes the underprovision of the medication component in public health packages as a starting point. Field ...

Anna Custers' study presents evidence from a randomised field experiment that was conducted in Bhopal, India. It delivers a two-fold contribution to the burgeoning field of financial literacy theory. Firstly, it investigates a specific link in the theoretical mechanism between financial literacy ...

As stated by the Brundtland Report, the authoritative document on sustainable development, the pressure of poverty creates environmental stress by factors like overcrowded cities, deforestation, and overuse of marginal land. Alejandro Turbay, Funmilayo Akinosi, and Daniel Nordlund sought to find ...

The recent global macroeconomic crisis creates an exceptionally interesting possibility to investigate the linkages of the microfinance sector to mainstream markets and its connections with domestic markets as well as international markets – a subject whose significance has increased in recent ...

In the traditional financial system, profit and social solidarity have often represented a dichotomy hard to beat. In this scenario, the Microfinance Investment Vehicles (MIVs) are emerging as tools to build a bridge between private and social interests, increasingly in recent years, despite the ...

Low income households are faced with various types of risks, increasing their vulnerability to poverty. In Cambodia, conditions of the rural poor - with the majority engaged in agriculture - are characterized by low productivity, limited capacities in terms of land and assets, volatile income ...

Self-Help Group (SHG) microcredit is emerging as a springboard of developmental finance for Income Generating Activities (IGAs) in rural areas of India, serving the cause of the landless, small, and marginal households. SHG peer pressure is the primary driver of impressive repayment performance. ...

Microfinance 2.0 examines the role of reputation-based intermediaries on the world’s largest peer-to-peer online lending platform. This marketplace as well as other recently opened lending websites allow people to auction microcredit over the Internet and are in line with the disintermediation ...