This paper analyzes the interaction between the success of group lending institutions and the stock of social capital (modeled by the level of trust) in the community where the group lending programs are located. Agents play a finitely repeated "trust game" in parallel with a finitely repeated...

Although, interest rate charged by microfinance stimulate of lot of ethical debate. Very few studies in microfinance detail the cost components of interest rates paid by the borrowers. Setting the optimal interest rate with a dual goal of financial sustainability and fighting against poverty is...

Democratic Republic of Congo has known dramatic events for the last three decades. Statistical social economic data did not exist really or not available in the period. The Informal Sector survey, the second phase of the 1-2-3 survey, carried out in 2004-2005 and conducted by the National...

In a context where MIVs face several bottlenecks regarding their future role in the microfinance industry, this paper suggests a brand new way of reviewing their commitment to double bottom line returns. We suggest using the MACBETH (Measuring Attractiveness by a Categorical Based Evaluation...

Limited borrower information may create targeting distortions in credit markets. Community-based lending programs may reduce these distortions by exploiting information transmitted in local networks, but connections may create asymmetries in power. This paper analyzes how local leaders balance...

(english) Democratic Republic of Congo has known dramatic events for the last three decades. Statistical social economic data did not exist really or not available in the period. The Informal Sector survey, the second phase of the 1-2-3 survey, carried out in 2004-2005 and conducted by the...

In this paper we analyse the role of peers' solidarity in fostering investment in production in the context of micro?nance. When there is asymmetric information between lenders and borrowers on the use of borrowed funds and loans are not collateralized, there is a high chance that borrowers use...

Group liability is often portrayed as the key innovation that led to the explosion of the microcredit movement, which started with the Grameen Bank in the 1970s and continues on today with hundreds of institutions around the world. Group lending claims to improve repayment rates and lower...

Lending to the poor is expensive due to high screening, monitoring, and enforcement costs. Group lending advocates believe lenders overcome this by harnessing social connections. Using data from FINCA-Peru, I exploit a quasi-random group formation process to find evidence of peers successfully...

Lending to the poor is expensive due to high screening, monitoring, and enforcement costs. Group lending advocates believe lenders overcome this by harnessing social connections. Using data from FINCA-Peru, I exploit a quasi-random group formation process to find evidence of peers successfully...