This report intends to introduce the discussion of gender gaps in entrepreneurship development and to explore possible actions that could effectively foster women's entrepreneurship. With this purpose in mind, the authors searched for results of recent fieldwork on women entrepreneurs in Latin...

This paper discusses the radical change of the role of the public sector in the financing of infrastructure projects during the nineties. The generalized response to the new environment has taken the form of arrangements in which private initiative is empowered to construct and finance the...

This paper aims to reveal some basic trends in the financing of microfinance institutions, such as where the financing comes from, and how the distribution changes over time. The paper does not claim to be a comprehensive review of this topic, but it offers some new information and points to...

The purpose of this technical guide is to provide a standard format for the analysis of institutions that provide financial services to the microenterprise sector. The technical guide outlines the appropriate techniques and scope of analysis for evaluating and designing programs of support to...

This technical guide highlights 14 of the most commonly used indicators published by the Roundtable Group and illustrates how they are used. It provides some explanation and analysis of the indicators for those who are interested in understanding their application as well as weaknesses. For each...

National and local governments, international organizations and donors are increasingly using the instrument of cluster development programs (CDP) to promote economic development. This paper builds on the recent experiences of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in financing and executing...

Several developed and developing countries started to integrate their specialized supervisory institutions into a single entity during the past few years. A debate on the pros and cons of integrated supervision models emerged recently. Issues in favor and against integration have been...

This report analyzes the main problems with respect to property rights and contract enforcement in commercial transactions in Ecuador, with particular emphasis on the financial sector. As in many other developing countries, in Ecuador the issue of property rights, contractual enforcement and...

The Bank has prepared a new set of strategies, presented in this volume, for the two overarching objectives established (Sustainable Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction and Promotion of Social Equity) and for each of the four priority areas highlighted in the Institutional Strategy...

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...