We develop a general equilibrium model to assess the quantitative effects of the business environment, including regulation, crime, corruption, infrastructure and access to finance, on output and total factor productivity (TFP) for 30 Sub-Saharan African countries. The first four dimensions...

This research demonstrates that international financial integration changes the way in which financial development affects inequality within a country. Specifically, both the cross-country analysis and the dynamic panel data analysis using data collected from more than 100 countries provide...

The relation between the degree of financial development of an economy (measured by the extent in which constraints to credit exist) and fluctuations affecting the trend of economic growth, is a relevant theme of discussion in macroeconomics. Some of the literature on this field argues that the...

Financial constraints are widespread in developing countries, where even short term credit is limited. Finance held by firms as working capital is a substantial proportion of sales revenue, yet the role of working capital is largely neglected by existing models of financial constraints. I...

Taking advantage of a natural experiment and a rich household-level panel dataset, this paper tests the impact of an agricultural insurance program on household level production, borrowing, and saving. The empirical strategy includes both difference-in-difference and triple difference...

This paper provides a brief but comprehensive overview of microfinance academic literature with emphasis on recent innovations, trends and efficiency. In particular, we focus on controversial issues of microfinance, such as commercialization, regulation, interest rate policy and the balance...

This paper attempts to assess whether participation in a microfinance program helps households generate personal savings, as distinct from savings through compulsory contributions to the program. We consider a microfinance program initiated by the Government of India (the SGSY scheme),which is...

This paper aims to characterize the behavior of economic agents on Sub-Saharan Africa’s credit market in order to understand the financial exclusion of poor households. Through its theoretical approach, it gives a description of the functioning of the credit market. By considering the social...

This study aims to assess the microfinance institutions’ (MFIs’) efficiency in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) after the reforms that were undertaken in the industry. Given the complementary role between MFIs and banks (where MFIs reach the population that the banks...

This study while validating the increasing role for financial intermediaries in economic development has attempted to highlight the importance of reduction of transaction costs for financial deepening and consequent economic growth. It is elucidated that higher transaction costs of borrowing for...