We study the impact of bank credit supply on firm output and productivity. Exploiting a matched firm-bank database, covering all credit relationships of Italian corporations over more than a decade, we measure idiosyncratic supply-side shocks to firm credit availability. We use this to estimate a production model augmented with financial frictions, and show that an expansion of credit supply le...

the issuing of credit cards by banks and other financial and credit institutions is a new experience in iran. the compatibility of credit cards with islamic rules and islamic banking and establishment of a legal structure for maintaining security for such cards, avoiding frauds and settling relating disputes is one of the most challenging issues of the iranian legislation. as the issuance and u...

There is strong advocacy for agricultural machinery appropriate for smallholder farmers in South Asia. Such 'scale-appropriate' machinery can increase returns to land and labour, although the still substantial capital investment required can preclude smallholder ownership. Increasing machinery demand has resulted in relatively well-developed markets for rental services for tillage, irrigation, ...

Financial innovations are a common explanation for the rise in credit card debt and bankruptcies. To evaluate this story, we develop a simple model that incorporates two key frictions: asymmetric information about borrowers’ risk of default and a fixed cost of developing each contract lenders offer. Innovations that ameliorate asymmetric information or reduce this fixed cost have large extensiv...

In two studies, time preferences for financial gains and losses at delays of up to 50 years were elicited using three different methods: matching, fixed-sequence choice titration, and a dynamic “staircase” choice method. Matching was found to create fewer demand characteristics and to produce better fits with the hyperbolic model of discounting. The choice-based measures better predicted real-w...