Although the impact was less dramatic than in other Asian countries, Vietnam has been affected by the international crisis which started in 2008, resulting in a significant slowdown of economic growth. This paper aims at assessing the impact of this economic crisis on employment, unemployment...

If financial deepening aids economic growth, then financial repression should be harmful. We use a natural experiment in the change in the English usury laws in 1714 to analyze the effects of interest rate restrictions. We use a sample of individual loan transactions to demonstrate how the...

Analysis of the financial revolution in England has often focused on changes in public debt management and the interest rates paid by the state. Much less is known about the evolution of the financial system providing credit to individual borrowers. We document the transition from goldsmith to...

A large literature describes how local risk sharing networks can help individuals smooth consumption in the face of idiosyncratic economic shocks.  However, when an entire community faces a large covariate shock, and when the transaction costs of transfers are high, these risk sharing networks...

In the light of first-hand data from a Beninese urban household survey in Cotonou, we investigate several motives aiming to explain participation in Rotating Savings and Credit Associations. We provide anecdotal pieces of evidence, descriptive statistics, FIML regressions and matching estimates...

Exploiting new data from a survey and behavioral experiment conducted in Peru we analyze individuals’ preferences for securing income in old age. We identify a group that is unrationed by the mandate to save in Peru’s pension system, and draw insights from their affiliation and contribution...

A large literature describes how local risk sharing networks can help individuals smooth consumption in the face of idiosyncratic economic shocks. However, when an entire community faces a large covariate shock, and when the transaction costs of transfers are high, these risk sharing networks...

Exploiting new data from a survey and behavioral experiment conducted in Peru we analyze indvidual`s preferences for securing income in old age. We identify a group that is unrationed by the mandate to save in Peru`s pension system, and draw insights from their affiliation and contribution...

Using data from the Philippines, this paper seeks to understand how households in the study area apparently manage to avoid falling in a debt trap in spite of frequent borrowing. Findings suggest this is achieved via three institutional features. First, most informal debt carries no interest. As...