"This paper evaluates the outreach and impact of two microfinance "village bank" programs that target the poor in Northeast Thailand. It controls for endogenous self-selection and program placement, using data from a unique survey conducted in 1995-1996. Results indicate that even prior to...

In 2011, Uzbekistan celebrated 20 years of independence. The transition has not been smooth for any country in the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Uzbekistan, too, has experienced both positive and negative developments in gender equality. The status of women and men in Uzbekistan is...

Social enterprises hold the potential to make India’s spectacular growth story work better for its poor citizens. India’s rapidly growing economy has not managed to alleviate extreme poverty, which encompasses nearly half the country’s population. Reasons for this situation include...

This analysis is a follow-up to Transforming Tonga: A Private Sector Assessment. It assesses until early 2012 in reducing transaction costs and other barriers to growth identified in the 2008 private sector assessment. It concludes that Tonga has been one of the leading reformers in the Pacific...