Microfinance contracts have proven able to secure high rates of loan repayment in the face of limited liability and …, though, is at the heart of the promise that microfinance can deliver poverty reduction while not relying on ongoing subsidy …

This paper describes a new index of the quality of the business environment for microfinance institutions (the Global … Microscope on the Microfinance Business Environment). Regressions are used to validate the index by linking it and its … subcomponents to microfinance outcomes. The main findings are that the components of the index related to the supporting …

This paper analyzes characteristics of nonfarm enterprises, their employment growth patterns, and constraints in doing …, road infrastructure, and rural cell phone communication is correlated with employment growth. A major finding is that …

not experienced growth in employment, a phenomenon observed elsewhere in transitional economies and labeled as "jobless …

Estimates of labor mobility costs are needed to assess the responses of employment and wages to trade shocks when … estimator matches the changes in observed sectoral employment allocations with the predicted allocations from a model of costly …

Regulation allows microfinance institutions to evolve more fully into banks, particularly for institutions aiming to … draw on a new database that combines high-quality financial data on 245 of the world s largest microfinance institutions … profitability. The pattern is consistent with the notion that profit-oriented microfinance institutions absorb the cost of …

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, non-profit microfinance institutions make far smaller loans on average …