Access to finance remains a challenge for some micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Peru, particularly informal enterprises with no borrowing history in the formal financial system. Lenders lack the tools to reach these borrowers with sufficient scale and control over risk due...

Standards measures of female ownership and management of firms included in the World Bank Enterprise Survey do not support the existence of a gender gap in access to finance in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Nonetheless, more precise measures show that women-led businesses are more...

This book contains a selection of the major presentations from the conference: "Policy-Based Finance and Alternatives for Financial Market Development" held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in early 1996. It explores the generally successful East Asian experiences with policy-based finance and...

This book presents but a few examples of the many Bank-financed productive activities carried out by the people of the region, and pays tribute to the women and men who, in their efforts to succeed, daily renew their hopes for a better future. In addition, the book pays tribute to the...

This book is based on a conference entitled "Regional Public Goods and Regional Development Assistance", held in Washington, D.C. on November 6-7, 2002. It examines how the IDB and the ADB support the provision of regional public goods (RPGs) in Latin America and Asia, respectively. RPGs are...

Housing is more than just basic shelter - it can be a valuable monetary asset, both to households and nations. This book draws on research by experts at the Inter-American Development Bank and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to examine the economic, social and legal...

Policymakers in Latin America increasingly are turning to policies that have high economic rates of return and a favorable impact on income distribution. By providing financial services to small businesses and poor households -which normally lack such services- credit unions help secure growth...

For women microentrepreneurs, access to financial services matters. It is critical to their ability to make productive investments in their businesses. As part of IDB's efforts to strengthen women's roles in economic development, the Women in Development Unit undertook a study to analyze the...

Microfinance and Poverty probes a set of assumptions that have arisen about microfinance and poverty reduction and that have become the conventional wisdom, although they have not been proven. These assumptions are examined through a review and analysis of theoretical and applied literature on...

This paper marshals substantial arguments and data to support the contention that improving the access of micro and small enterprises to financial services could have an important salutary impact on a country's income distribution. To demonstrate this, the paper shows first that many poor own or...