Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) provide financial services to the poor and resemble banks and non-profits. Many target women because more women than men are poor, especially in rural areas. Studies show that women manage money differently from men and have different leadership styles. In credit...

Good corporate governance can improve firm performance and help assure long-term firm survival. Most providers of microfinance struggle to become financially self-sufficient and to achieve their social objectives of servicing with quality the poorest clientele possible. The issue of corporate...

Prior studies of the diversification-driven cost savings from the joint provision of credit and deposits in microfinance usually ignore the multi-way heterogeneity across MFIs which vary substantially in size, business model, target clientele and operate in diverse environments. Using a quantile...

This paper studies the relation between board size and composition and cost savings (scope economies) from combining savings mobilization and lending by Microfinance Institutions. The findings support the hypothesis that employee representation on the board is associated with positive scope...

This paper studies the relationship between a microfinance institution (MFI) and its loan officers when officers discriminate against a particular group of micro-entrepreneurs. Using survey data from Uganda, we provide evidence that loan officers are more biased than other employees against...

This paper studies the relationship between a microfinance institution (MFI) and its credit officers when the latter are biased against a subgroup of the clientele. Using survey data from Uganda, we provide evidence that credit officers are more biased against disabled borrowers than other...

The microfinance industry carries every sign of an innovation in its take-off phase. The various aspects of the microfinance innovation were developed in the 1980's, twenty years later the industry experiences a phenomenal growth rate, and it has diffused to most developing countries in the...

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of several governance mechanisms on microfinance institutions' (MFI) performance. We first define performance as efficiency in reaching many poor clients. Following the literature on efficiency in banks, we estimate a stochastic cost frontier and measure...

Using data from 319 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 68 developing countries, we study the degree to which international debt investments are related to the financial and social performances of MFIs. We find that commercial investments are mainly related to financial performance and level of...