The majority of microfinance impact studies focus on finding their effect on a specific group of beneficiaries, in …-term evidence of a significant ability of microfinance to affect broader economies. Moreover, the impact and dynamics differ … substantially by macro-institutional environment; the microfinance effect is more pronounced in weaker environments. …

Motivated by recent controversies surrounding the role of commercial lenders in microfinance, we analyze borrower …

impact of Equity Bank—a leading private commercial bank focusing on microfinance—on the access to banking in Kenya. Unlike …

of a particular microfinance institution (Spandana) while the remainder were not, although other MFIs were free to enter …. We found no changes in any of the development outcomes that are often believed to be affected by microfinance, including …

We examine how participation in a microfinance program diffuses through social networks. We collected detailed … demographic and social network data in 43 villages in South India before microfinance was introduced in those villages and then … first informed about the program, "the injection points". Microfinance participation is higher when the injection points …

Morocco starting in 2006 by Al Amana, the country’s largest microfinance institution. Al Amana was the only MFI operating in …

We investigate the puzzle of microfinance: that loans generate large measured returns for businesses, yet loan take …-up is low and the businesses often close. We analyze a randomized trial that bundled microfinance loans with a cheap health … business losses, rather than pay modest insurance premiums, implies the substantial financial gains from microfinance loans are …

development goals. Microfinance in particular has often been argued, but not without controversy, to be a tool for empowering …