key microfinance approaches in India, taking a close look at the most dominant among these, the Self Help Group (SHG) Bank …: India's rural poor currently have very little access to finance from formal sources. Microfinance approaches have tried to … microfinance approaches to coexist. Private sector microfinanciers need to acquire greater professionalism, and the government can …

findings show greater returns among men than among women; indeed, returns were not different from zero for women. The authors … social constraints limiting sales to local areas are not important. However, there is evidence that women invested grants … spend the grant on working capital and women on equipment. The gender gap is largest when male-dominated sectors are …

"The paper presents a major overhaul to the World Bank's past estimates of global poverty, incorporating new and better … data. Extreme poverty-as judged by what "poverty" means in the world's poorest countries-is found to be more pervasive than … we thought. Yet the data also provide robust evidence of continually declining poverty incidence and depth since the …

"Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs aim to alleviate poverty through monetary and in-kind benefits, as well as … reduce future levels of poverty by encouraging investments in education, health, and nutrition. The success of CCT programs … at reducing poverty depends on whether, and the extent to which, cash transfers affect adult work incentives. The authors …