The Big Picture: Global Trends Affecting Agricultural Finance -- Institutional and Process Innovations in Serving Rural Clients -- Dealing With Risks in Agricultural Finance -- Using Modern Technology for High-Quality Services in Rural Areas

In many poor countries, the recent increases in prices of staple foods raise the real incomes of those selling food, many of whom are relatively poor, while hurting net food consumers, many of whom are also relatively poor. The impacts on poverty will certainly be very diverse, but the average...

This volume brings together some of the most influential scholars in development economics to explore how to improve the well-being of the poor, how to design effective structures and institutions for poverty reduction and what the role of economic, political and social dimensions are (and...

This paper reviews and synthesizes theoretical and empirical research on the role of finance in developing countries. First, the paper presents the stylized facts about firms in developing nations as well as the legal, financial and broader institutional framework in which these firms operate....

Securitization: Wonder Drug or Financial Alchemy? -- Mobilising Capital for the Poor - How Does Structured Finance Fit in Emerging Markets? -- The Role of Public and Private Investors for Structured Finance in Emerging Markets -- Structured Finance - Mobilising New Means to Attract Capital --...

Mainstreaming Environmental Finance into Financial Markets - Relevance, Potential and Obstacles -- Mainstreaming Framework Conditions for Environmental Finance - The Role of the Public Sector -- Mainstreaming Environmental Finance Markets (I) - Small-Scale Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy...

This paper provides new estimates of the global gains from multilateral trade reform and their distribution among developing countries in the presence of trade preferences. Particular attention is given to agriculture, as farmers constitute the poorest households in developing countries but are...

Many policy makers are concerned about dependence on resource exports. This paper examines four changes that reduce this dependence: (i) accumulation of capital and skills; (ii) changes in protection policy, particularly reductions in the burden of protection on exporters; (iii) differential...

Anderson and Martin examine the extent to which various regions, and the world as a whole, could gain from multilateral trade reform over the next decade. They use the World Bank's linkage model of the global economy to examine the impact first of current trade barriers and agricultural...

This paper documents and analyzes gender differences in the use of financial services using individual-level data from 98 developing countries. The data, drawn from the Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) database, highlight the existence of significant gender gaps in ownership of...