Despite the extensive spread of micro finance, studies on the actual impact of MFIs are often more ambivalent about its impact than is the aid community. Much has been written on the range of institutional arrangements pursued in different organizations and countries and in turn a vast number...

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are often seen by aid practitioners as a manifestly effective means of improving the position of the poor. Despite this widely held view, detailed research studies have been much more guarded about the impact of MFIs. In particular, several studies have raised...

Is it possible for microfinance institutions to simultaneously pursue profits and poverty reduction? This study explores this question by analyzing the impact of Khushhali Bank, the largest retail microfinance bank in Pakistan. Khushhali Bank has shown that it can scale up outreach while...

This study empirically investigates the effectiveness of the Capital Purchase Program (CPP), the centerpiece of the United States 700 billion dollar policy response to the global financial crisis of 2008. We frame our analysis of the United States policy response against the backdrop of...

The Japanese “Big Bang” financial deregulations started in 1996. The objective was to make the Japanese banking sector more “free, fair and global”, spurring competition and resulting in a more profitable and efficient financial sector. The Big Bang brought about a massive consolidation...

Over the past decade, the health of the banking sector in Taipei,China has been in decline. Falling returns on assets and equity, steadily rising non-performing loans and bank runs at smaller financial institutions have highlighted problems across the banking sector as a whole. This study...

This paper empirically investigates the causes of bank failures in Japan and Indonesia. Using logistic regression analysis of financial ratios, we explore the usefulness of domestic bank failure prediction models with a cross-country model that allows for cross-correlation of the error terms....

This study examines the role of foreign banks in post-crisis Asia, focusing particularly on the four countries most affected by the Asian Crisis of 1997 - Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand. First, using data on the presence of foreign banks via branching as well as subsidiaries, the study...

If the demand for credit by the poor changes little when interest rates increase, lenders can raise fees to cost-covering levels without losing customers. This claim is at the core of sustainable microfinance strategies that aim to provide banking services to the poor while eschewing long-term...