undertakes a talk-centered analysis of the gram sabha with a focus on examining the oral participation of women in general and … women affiliated with microcredit self-help groups who have access to an associational life. The qualitative analysis of 255 … gram sabha transcripts from four South Indian states finds that women associated with microcredit self-help groups employ a …

Recent evidence suggests only modest social and economic impacts of microfinance. Favorable cost-benefit ratios then … depend on low costs. This paper uses proprietary data on 1,335 microfinance institutions between 2005 and 2009, jointly … serving 80.1 million borrowers, to calculate the costs of microfinance and other elements of the microfinance business model …

impact of Equity Bank -- a leading private commercial bank focusing on microfinance -- on access to banking in Kenya. Unlike …

the first randomized controlled trial-based evidence on this question. Households in rural Bihar, India, were offered low … indicators of women's empowerment were mixed, and showed no clear direction when aggregated, nor was there any impact on …

Self-help groups (SHGs) are the most common form of microfinance in India. The authors provide evidence that SHGs …, composed of women only, undertake collective actions for the provision of public goods within village communities. Using a … technology of providing public goods. Using first-hand data on SHGs in India, the paper tests the prediction of the model and …

features of rainfall insurance contracts offered in India since 2003, and documents stylized facts about market demand and the …

liability structure offered by a microfinance program in India, which shifted from individual to group liability lending. The …Microfinance, the provision of small individual and business loans, has witnessed dramatic growth, reaching over 150 …

-disaggregated data set on India. Empowerment is measured by women's decision-making ability, mobility, financial autonomy, reproductive …Electrification has been shown to accelerate opportunities for women by moving them into more productive activities …. This paper investigates the causal link between electricity access and women's empowerment, using a large gender …

The paper explores whether one of the largest programs in the world for women's empowerment and rural livelihoods, the … Indira Kranti Patham in Andhra Pradesh, India, has had an impact on the economic and social wellbeing of households that …), invest in education, and increase total expenditures (for the poorest and poor). Women who participated in the program had …

support groups, literacy camps, adult education classes, and vocational training for rural women in several states of India …This paper uses primary data from rural north India to show that participation in a community-level female empowerment … disentangle the program's mechanisms, separately considering its effect on women who work, and those who do not work but whose …