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 sub-components to microfinance outcomes. The main findings...

In recent times, social security has been one of the most popular instruments for promoting human development worldwide. Nearly all countries of the world have implemented some kind of social security legislation. While the emergence of social security in the OECD-world has been extensively...

Regulation of any market can either promote or impede its development, thus affecting social welfare. In this paper, we are concerned with the impact of regulation in microinsurance markets. We evaluate existing and potential regulatory mechanisms with regard to its underlying economic...

Summary This paper uses firm-level data across 77 developing countries to show that constraints related to investment climate hamper Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The main results show that physical infrastructure problems, financing constraints, and institutional problems discourage FDI....

The private standard GlobalGap was introduced into Madagascar’s lychee value chain in the mid-2000s in response to the demand for certified lychees. Following the initial craze, however, the number of certified farmers soon dropped as the financial support to the exporters dried up. Based on a...

This paper presents the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), a measure of acute poverty, understood as a person’s inability to meet minimum international standards in indicators related to the Millennium Development Goals and to core functionings. It constitutes the first implementation of...

Microinsurance markets have exhibited strong growth rates in recent years. Great parts of the industry are, however, challenged by fundamental issues of providing insurance products, one of the most significant of which is pricing risk. In this paper, we provide a nontechnical analysis of...

The aim of this paper is to assess the dynamic impact of banking crises on output for a panel of developing economies. Using an unbalanced panel of 159 countries from 1970 to 2006, the paper shows that banking crises produce significant output losses. Output losses are larger for relatively...

Uncorrected vision may present a significant barrier to educational mobility in poor communities in low and middle income countries. Focusing on the case of rural Northwest China, we analyze the Gansu Survey of Children and Families (2,000 children; 100 rural villages) and the Gansu Vision...

I study the effects of income uncertainty on household schooling decisions. Households with more volatile incomes have a greater incentive to build a buffer stock to insure against unforeseen adverse shocks, and non-enrollment can be part of such a strategy. I use data from rural Burkina Faso,...