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...

Economists have recognized that “institutions matter” and the renewal of Institutional Economics has gained a large scientific authority, but institutions, as unit of analysis, stay a concept not understood on all its dimensions. Recently, the notion of “institutional capital” appeared...

This paper explores the problem of credible commitment that public officials face with regard to institutional reform. Doug North points out that while economies grow as a result of the provision of governance, I argue that creating an entity with a geographic monopoly simultaneously limits the...

Institutional change explains the change of institutions considered as rules and expectations that govern human interactions and paths of development in society. This conceptual paper describes, with an historical perspective, the most important definitions of institution and of institutional...

We develop a formula for the optimal size of a joint savings association between individuals who share the same financial goal and who can save towards that goal at the same rate. Our motivating example and the core of our analysis is a Rotating Savings and Credit Association (ROSCA). We measure...

We develop a formula for the optimal size of a joint savings association between individuals who share the same financial goal and who can save towards that goal at the same rate. Our motivating example and the core of our analysis is a Rotating Savings and Credit Association (ROSCA). We measure...

Corruption is something of a conundrum to economists. Whilst clearly being economic in its nature and principle motivation, that of personal gain, it is also clearly determined by a range of institutional, psychological, cultural and social factors which challenge the narrow assumptions that...

We analyze the general equilibrium effects of a fundamental property regime transition in the rural sector - agricultural or resource - when both labor and (reproducible) capital are free to move. In contrast to manufacturing, rural production has two characteristic features: it uses a fixed...

The past decade has witnessed a surge of interest in the economic analysis of networks. This chapter is concerned with the role played by labor and credit networks in shaping economic activity in developing countries. The problem of identifying network effects on economic outcomes is first...

We develop a formula for the optimal size of a joint savings association between individuals who share the same financial goal and who can save towards that goal at the same rate. Our motivating example and the core of our analysis is a Rotating Savings and Credit Association (ROSCA). We measure...