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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Front Matter, Journal Of Microfinance
Front Matter, Journal Of Microfinance
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
No abstract provided.
Realizing Mission Objectives: A Promising Approach To Measuring The Social Performance Of Microfinance Institutions, Katarzyna Pawlak, Michal Matul
Realizing Mission Objectives: A Promising Approach To Measuring The Social Performance Of Microfinance Institutions, Katarzyna Pawlak, Michal Matul
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
This paper proposes a new approach for measuring the social performance of microfinance institutions. The key to developing sustainable social performance measurement (SPM) systems and practices is to consider their design from the perspective of the organizational mission. The fact that the SPM system is built on the organizational mission ensures its cost-effectiveness and facilitates its institutionalization. It not only stimulates an MFI to verify the fulfilment of its social mission and to innovate in the search for optimal solutions to address development needs in a given intervention context, but it also can improve its financial condition through client segmentation …
Foreign Exchange Risk Management Practices Of Microfinance Institution, Peter R. Crabb
Foreign Exchange Risk Management Practices Of Microfinance Institution, Peter R. Crabb
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
Foreign exchange risk remains a significant problem for microfinance institutions (MFIs). Many sources of potential funding for MFIs remain untapped due to the high risks of currency devaluation faced by these funding sources. Specifically, debt capital is available for MFIs but foreign exchange risk is a potential deterrent. This paper reviews current practices in the management of foreign exchange risk for and by MFIs. The advantages and disadvantages of these practices are discussed and alternative practices proposed.
Scoring Arrears At A Microlender In Bolivia, Mark Schreiner
Scoring Arrears At A Microlender In Bolivia, Mark Schreiner
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
Can scoring models help microlenders in poor countries as much as they have helped credit-card lenders in rich countries? This paper presents a scorecard that predicts the probability that loans from a microlender in Bolivia will have arrears of 15 days or more. Although arrears in microfinance depend on many factors difficult to include in scorecards, the paper shows that inexpensive, simple-to-collect data does have some predictive power. In micro-finance, scoring will not replace loan officers, but it can flag high-risk cases and act as a cross-check on loan officers' judgment.
The Transformation Of The Microfinance Sector In India: Experiences, Options, And Future, M. S. Siriaram, Rajesh S. Upadhyayula
The Transformation Of The Microfinance Sector In India: Experiences, Options, And Future, M. S. Siriaram, Rajesh S. Upadhyayula
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
This paper discusses the growth and transformation of microfinance organizations (MFO) in India. Issues that have triggered transformation include size, diversity, sustainability, focus, and taxation. Transformation experiences in India are few. To move to the mainstream, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) choose from three popular forms of organizations: non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), banks, and cooperatives. It appears that there is no ideal path for spin-off. Regulatory changes are needed to allow MFOs to graduate to other legal forms as they grow organically. NGOs must be permitted to invest in the equity of MFOs, as is the case in Bolivia and Africa. Norms …
Impact Of Microfinance Programs On Children's Education: Do The Gender Of The Borrower And The Delivery Model Matter?, Nathalie Holvoet
Impact Of Microfinance Programs On Children's Education: Do The Gender Of The Borrower And The Delivery Model Matter?, Nathalie Holvoet
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
This article highlights the effects particular features of microfinance programs have on childhood education. Using data from a South India household survey, the article examines how microfinance impacts schooling and literacy, how credit enters the household, and who brings it in. Regression results show that, in the case of direct bank-borrower credit delivery, it does not matter whether credit enters the household through the mother or the father. However, large differences occur when mothers obtain credit through women's groups. Analysis indicates that combined financial and social-group intermediation leads to higher educational inputs and outputs, mainly for girls. Individual interviewis with …
Microleasing: The Grameen Bank Experience, Asif Dowla
Microleasing: The Grameen Bank Experience, Asif Dowla
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
Grameen Bank was the first microfinance institution (MFI) to introduce microleasing on a large scale. This paper provides a preliminary evaluation of Grameen's leasing program. Instead of providing a full-fledged impact assessment study, we examine the terms and conditions of the leasing program and evaluate its success in terms of outreach, repayment rate, and asset ownership.Analysis of program level data shows that the program is successful in terms of outreach and repayment performance. Through the program, poor men and women have become owners of power tillers, power looms, shallow machines, cellular phones, and even computers. The success of leasing suggests …
The Experience Of Financial Institutions In The Delivery Of Microcredit In The Philippines, Maria Abigail Carpio
The Experience Of Financial Institutions In The Delivery Of Microcredit In The Philippines, Maria Abigail Carpio
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
This paper identifies the characteristic features of the different financial market players involved in the delivery of microcredit in the Philippines and looks into their experiences in addressing the credit demand of the small-borrower market segment, particularly the microenterprise sector. This paper argues that each group of lenders, specifically commercial banks, rural banks, credit-granting NGOs, and an apex financial institution, allocates its funds by establishing its own criteria for assessing the creditworthiness of borrowers and its own mechanisms to avoid borrower default. The delivery of microcredit takes place within an environment where the different financial market players face their own …
Vol. 06 No. 2 Journal Of Microfinance, Journal Of Microfinance
Vol. 06 No. 2 Journal Of Microfinance, Journal Of Microfinance
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
No abstract provided.
Public Sector Transition In Post-Communist Economies: The Struggle For Fiscal Decentralization In The Czech And Slovak Republics, Phillip J. Bryson, Gary C. Cornia
Public Sector Transition In Post-Communist Economies: The Struggle For Fiscal Decentralization In The Czech And Slovak Republics, Phillip J. Bryson, Gary C. Cornia
Faculty Publications
Transition studies have often been studies of transitioning private sectors. How centralist governments withdraw from the business of micromanaging a nation's enterprises is a fascinating story indeed. The other side of the coin, how the public sector is to be brought to decentralization and democracy, is likewise of great moment for the peoples of the transitioning countries. Under central planning the tradition was to provide all public goods and services under the direction of the central government and its ministries. There were no genuine subnational governments, since all policy decisions pertaining to taxation and the distribution of public services were …
Output Gap Uncertainty And Monetary Policy During The 1970s, David E. Spencer
Output Gap Uncertainty And Monetary Policy During The 1970s, David E. Spencer
Faculty Publications
The conduct of monetary policy during the 1970s was greatly complicated by systematic real-time misperceptions of the state of economic activity as measured by the output gap. Employing real-time data and using the Taylor rule as an analytical framework, I explore the implications of utilizing alternative observable proxies for the unobservable output gap. I compare the counterfactual paths for the federal funds rate generated under each proxy with the actual path of the federal funds rate and a benchmark ("ideal") path implied by a full information Taylor rule. Results suggest that these real-time proxies would have resulted in better policy …
Fiscal Decentralization In The Czech And Slovak Republics: A Comparative Study Of Moral Hazard, Phillip J. Bryson, Gary C. Cornia, Gloria E. Wheeler
Fiscal Decentralization In The Czech And Slovak Republics: A Comparative Study Of Moral Hazard, Phillip J. Bryson, Gary C. Cornia, Gloria E. Wheeler
Faculty Publications
Fiscal decentralization has provided neither the benefits of decentralization nor an independent revenue source for subnational governments in the Czech and Slovak Republics. In Slovakia, political conditions early in the transition led to the relative neglect of revenue transfers from the center. This produced financial stress but also encouraged greater fiscal independence for local governments. It also forced them to seek maximal property tax revenues. The Czech Republic made more substantial transfers to local governments, but the development of fiscal autonomy was stifled as transfers reduced the need for own-source local revenues. The Czech real estate tax has remained nominal …