This paper develops and tests a proposed methodology that puts forward a new integrated method for evaluating the performance of development finance institutions. This methodology applies assessment criteria that take into account both the social objective that the development finance...

Given Sub-Saharan Africa's enormous resource needs for growth, poverty reduction, and other Millennium Development Goals, the development community has little choice but to continue to explore new sources of financing, innovative private-to-private sector solutions, and public-private...

This paper describes important trade-offs that microfinance practitioners, donors, and regulators navigate. Drawing evidence from large, global surveys of microfinance institutions, the authors find a basic tension between meeting social goals and maximizing financial performance. For example,...

The Government of China has placed strong emphasis on addressing problems related to agriculture, farmers, and rural society, with the development of a "new socialist countryside" designated as a top priority for the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2006-2010). The financing of public services in rural...

A diaspora bond is a debt instrument issued by a country - or potentially, a sub-sovereign entity or a private corporation - to raise financing from its overseas diaspora. Israel and India have raised $35-40 billion using these bonds. Drawing on their experiences, this paper discusses the...

This paper analyzes the evolution of sovereign credit ratings in the wake of the global financial crisis by studying changes in actual, shadow, and relative ratings between 2008 and 2012. For countries that do not have a rating from the major rating agencies, shadow ratings are estimated as a...

The paper examines the patterns of economic integration of refugees in Switzerland, a country with a long tradition of hosting refugees, a top-receiving host in Europe, and a prominent example of a multicultural society. It relies on a unique longitudinal dataset consisting of administrative...

Switzerland's pension system has attracted considerable attention, mainly due to its reliance on a three-pillar structure. A relatively small pay-as-you-go system (first pillar) is complemented by a mandatory, employer-based, fully funded occupational pension scheme (second pillar). The main...

With more than 20 percent, Switzerland is one of the countries with the largest foreign population. Since 1970 the government has tried to manage the flows of migrants in the hope of reconciling a chronic excess demand for labor with mounting pressures from nationalistic groups to control the...

Its highly fragmented structure of local governments and serious horizontal fiscal imbalances make Switzerland a surprisingly powerful model for Eastern European countries that are currently facing the challenge of fiscal decentralization. In spite of the substantial differences in the tradition...