what are the main success factors of microfinance institutions in providing financial services to poor people in a sustainable manner? in this article we try to answer this question. in one hand, we analyze the core compatibility between microeconomics of asymmetric information, transaction cost and risk, and new different operational mechanisms applied by microfinance institutions. on the othe...

The current instability in Colombia derives from the interaction and resulting synergies of an underground criminal drug economy and the growth of armed challenges to the state’s authority. The first source of instability is reflected in the pervasive influence of drug networks and their infiltration of key societal institutions; the second lies in the growth of guerrilla armies, paramilitaries...

The diversified business group (DBG) is a ubiquitous institution in developing economies. It is a formal inter-firm network that typically involves financial institutions, distributors and manufacturers. Groupwise diversification is viewed by some as a novel form of organisational innovation by entrepreneurial tycoons while others see it as an instrument for rent seeking. Inspired by Korean cha...

In a world of rapidly changing economic opportunities, institutions frequently lag relative to the objective conditions over which they apply, creating dysfunctionalities that can have high social costs. The Indian caste system is a classical example of such institutional slippage between division of labor and social class positions, with not only high welfare costs for members of lower castes ...

This paper is part of a wider research project with the objective of creating computational testbeds for designing and testing new mechanisms new economic and political institutions. Here we illustrate the power of such an approach by testing two call market designs in a repeated demand-supply environment. We find there to be significant differences in performance depending on the information p...

For generations, American hospitals have been considered recession-proof, but there is reason to believe the current economic crisis is an exception. Hospitals have shown declining financial margins and decreased admissions. The severe recession has adversely affected many hospitals' finances, creating a risk of closure and constraining plans for expansion. We believe there is also a risk of ha...

Using a Vector Autoregression framework, this paper investigates the dynamic relationship between the intensity of negative media speculation and the market performance of financial institutions. Evidence is provided that over the sub-prime crisis period pessimistic coverage Granger-caused the returns on banking indices, while causality in the opposite direction proved weaker. These findings ma...

scholars have long been interested in the role of population and its impact on the economy of various countries, hence the theories on the subject. while malthus’ population theory presents a very pessimistic view and is formulated in a context which does not correspond to the conditions of the modern world, it occupies the minds of a majority of economists. it is interesting to know, while mal...

This paper provides a historical perspective for China’s economic reform. It first summarizes nine stylized facts of China’s gradual reform, and then explains what forces have driven China into gradualism and how China’s gradual reform has become a success. The paper shows that the transition from a centrally-planned system to a market economy is an evolutionary process with interactions among ...

The government's call for “indigenous innovation” has led to significant development in China's science, technology innovation policy and building collaborative relations between research institutions and industry in China. Despite the scale of central government funding for R&D and various government-initiated programmes to stimulate knowledge generation significant challenges remain. Some of ...