This paper presents a conceptual framework for explaining Credit Unions (CUs) loan delinquency and profitability in developing countries. It also offers an empirical estimation for a unique sample of CUs in Latin America.

The centrifugal forces of economic globalization in the 1990's ran parallel with centripetal forces of regionalization. While seemingly pulling in opposite directions, the two forces reflected complementary dimensions of dynamic capitalist market development. The completion of the Uruguay Round...

There is a growing interest related to the theoretical analysis of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Nevertheless, there has been as yet very little empirical research on the topic, in particular, on the negotiating dynamics of these types of agreements. This paper attempts to make a contribution in...

The proliferation of free trade agreements around the world has accentuated the role of preferential rules of origin (RoO) in global companies¿ sourcing and investment decisions. However, there are few theoretical and practically no empirical analyses on the effects of RoO on foreign direct...

Rules of origin (RoO) are a central topic both in the Inter-Regional Association Agreement negotiations between the European Union (EU) and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), and in the 34-country negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The purpose of this paper is to...

Las fuerzas centrífugas de la globalización económica en los años noventa circularon paralelas con las centrípetas de la regionalización. Aunque aparentemente parecían dirigirse en direcciones opuestas, las dos fuerzas reflejaban dimensiones complementarias del dinámico desarrollo del...

This paper takes seriously the recent claim made by Ethier [1998] that the "New Regionalism" reflects the success of the multilateral trading system, not its failure. In fact, the New Regionalism represents a qualitative departure of the old regionalism in several respects, in particular, its...

This paper examines each major element of the village banking technology and how it has been liberalized so far, particularly in four leading Latin American village banking institutions: FINCA Nicaragua, Pro Mujer Bolivia, Compartamos (in Mexico), and CRECER (in Bolivia). It then analyzes how...

The current study gathers together a large database on the funding side of Latin American microfinance institutions (MFIs), providing detailed coverage of 61 regulated MFIs in nine Latin American countries with major microfinance markets. The study goes on to examine the relative costs of the...

Banks are increasingly entering into microfinance, and donors such as the IDB are increasingly helping them to do so. Despite this trend, banks continue to make a number of common mistakes in attempting to serve the microenterprise sector. A key to successfully serving this sector is to follow...