Over the years, microfinance has been purported to have experienced enormous progress and is seen to contribute towards poverty reduction by extending finance to people previously excluded from formal financial markets. However, the question on how microfinance social performance is assessed...

Microfinance promises to trim down poverty. To achieve this noble objective microfinance institutions (MFIs) have to become steady profitable because donor constancy is not a given. Thus important question is: what factors drive the financial sustainability of MFIs? Using data on 217 MFIs in 101...

Group liability in microcredit purports to improve repayment rates through peer screening, monitoring, and enforcement. However, it may create excessive pressure, and discourage reliable clients from borrowing. Two randomized trials tested the overall effect, as well as specific mechanisms. The...

We develop a quantitative model for structured microfinance instruments, which are regarded as an important means for refinancing microfinance institutions. The quantitative credit risk model presented takes into account the peculiarities of microfinance institutions and can be used for pricing...

We consider a model where poverty minimizing donors fund microfinance lenders that are heterogeneous in cost. Under asymmetric information the donors face a choice whether to issue grants or to charge the lenders for funds. While charging for funds leads to higher interest rates, a higher rate...

This paper examines the factors that inhibit growth in the microfinance sector in Tanzania by measuring the perceptions about such issues among Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). The most important include the educational levels of clients, lack of capital to lend to clients and staff related...

This paper assesses current business financing models that are used in South Africa to aid and/or encourage entrepreneurship as a means of job creation and poverty alleviation. We start by examining how microfinance fares in this attempt. We then suggest possible ways of addressing microfinance...

This paper starts from the observation that 23% of the world’s microfinance institutions (MFIs) manage without subsidies. We examine how unsubsidized institutions cope with their social mission. Overall, the lack of subsidies worsens social performances. However, our results show that...

We evaluate the efficiency of microfinance institutions (MFIs) using a structural approach which also captures these institutions’ outreach and sustainability objectives. We estimate economies of scale and input price elasticities for lending-only and deposit-mobilizing MFIs using a large...

By using stochastic frontier analysis, this article examines the technical efficiency of different types of microfinance institutions in Latin America. In particular, it tests whether differences in technical efficiency, both intra- and interfirm, can be explained by differences in ownership....