"Micro-credit" has come to refer to a popular extension strategy -usually in the agricultural sector -whereby a government or NGO extends credit at favorable rates to poorer borrowers, with repayment being supported by some kind of mortgage on the borrower's social capital. In the commonest...

"Micro-credit" has come to refer to a popular extension strategy -usually in the agricultural sector -whereby a government or NGO extends credit at favorable rates to poorer borrowers, with repayment being supported by some kind of mortgage on the borrower's social capital. In the commonest...

There is scope and incentive for "stores" to endogenously arise in an exchange economy when agents possess different levels of bargaining power and coalition is costly. In the absence of stores, agents face a trading lottery where the expected outcome for an individual agent depends upon his...

This paper analyzes corruption as a collusive act which requires the participation of two willing partners. An agent intending to engage in a corrupt act must search for a like-minded partner. When many people in the economy are corrupt, such a search is more likely to be fruitful. Thus when an...

We analyze a firm's job-assignment and worker-monitoring decisions when workers face occasional crises. Firms prefer to assign good workers to a difficult task and to not employ bad workers. Firms observe failures but only observe successfully resolved crises if they monitor the worker. If...

This review attempts to identify treatments of corruption that draw upon characteristics of underdevelopment either as causes or as consequences. It focuses on three aspects of corruption in developing economies: red tape, rent-seeking, and the abundance of intermediaries. Red tape is presented...

This paper analyzes the optimality of policy specifications used to regulate the acquisition and operation of local firms by multinational enterprises (MNE). We emphasize the consequence of such regulation on the price of the domestic firm in the market for corporate control. We show that it is...

Purpose – Consider a government benefit that is earmarked for a group of people “deserving” the benefit. Corruption happens when undeserving candidates obtain the benefit with the help of corrupt officials. Often, such corrupt activities are mediated by professional touts who act as...