This paper studies TRAIL, a variation on traditional microfinance, where a microfinance institution appoints local intermediaries (traders or informal moneylenders) as agents to recommend borrowers for individual liability loans. Agents earn commissions that depend on loan repayments. There are no peer monitoring, group meetings or savings requirements. The loans are designed to finance agricul...

Microfinance institutions focus on providing financial services for low-income citizens who typically lack access to traditional banking systems. In recent years there has been an significant growth in the number of online microlending sites that connect lenders to microfinance institutions and individuals that require funding. Although traditional (offline) microfinance has been widely studied...

considering the expansion of global poverty and its resulting concerns, the objectives of the millennium development goals (mdgs) may not be achieved unless a solution is found for this widespread phenomenon. therefore finding a solution for poverty reduction and improving the welfare of the vulnerable group has become a universal objective. this paper discusses the poor performance of formal f...

Savings-led microfinance programs operate in poor rural communities in developing countries to establish groups that save and then lend out the accumulated savings to each other. Nonprofit organizations train villagers to create and lead these groups. In a clustered randomized evaluation spanning three African countries (Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda), we find that the promotion of these community-...

Introduction One of the most important innovations in development finance in recent years has been the emergence of microfinance. Millions of very poor people receive and repay small loans, even though they possess few assets or skills. At least two decades of experimenting lead donors and practitioners in developing countries to identify and duplicate best practices – just think about the famo...

This paper explores the potential of microfinance in post-conflict economies, and specifically examines policy considerations for the case of Iraq. It presents important conditions of the post-conflict economy, and examines three critical requirements for successful microfinance operations, as outlined by the Microenterprises Best Practices Project. Political stability, economic demand and popu...

BACKGROUND The United Nations Millennium Development Goals include targets for the health of children under five years old. Poor health is linked to poverty and microfinance initiatives are economic interventions that may improve health by breaking the cycle of poverty. However, there is a lack of reliable evidence to support this. In addition, microfinance schemes may have adverse effects on h...

Microfinance Institutions have the potential to alleviate poverty across the world. However, they face many challenges before they can grow to meet set objectives. The use of information technology holds promise to enable such growth. There are some key challenges that must be addressed by microfinance institutions before the full potential of IT can be realized. This paper articulates five key...

this paper aims to comprehend the intrinsic limitations of the market players in the financial system and how these create a situation of `missing middle` for small and medium industries (sme) financing in bangladesh. a clear dualism prevails in the manufacturing industry of this country. while the smes maintains the biggest share in establishments and employment creation, large enterprises (le...

This paper examines the combined effect of interest rates and poverty levels of microfinance clients on loan size. Cross section data on 2,691 clients and non-clients households from Ghana is used to test the hypothesis of loan price inelasticity. Quantile regression and variants of least squares methods that explore endogeneity are employed. We find the expected inverse relationship only for t...