"This paper examines the ways in which lower-income households obtain basic financial services in urban communities in Mexico and the United States. And it discusses the efforts that private sector and government organizations are making to lower the cost or improve the quality of those...

Today, many more girls are going to school and living longer, healthier lives than 30 or even 10 years ago. That was the good news in our flagship 2012 World Development Report on gender. But this has not translated into broader gains. Too many women still lack basic freedoms and opportunities...