This paper discusses the so-called commercial approach to microfinance under economic and ethical aspects. It first shows how microfinance has developed from a purely welfare-oriented activity to a commercially relevant line of banking business. The background of this stunning success is the...

Political uncertainty drives markets. Among macroeconomic forces, it is one of the fewfactors that systematically affect most assets - hence it qualifies as a state variable in the senseof the ICAPM and should carry a risk premium. We employ static and conditional factormodels using data in...

1. Financial innovation and the economics of banking and the financial system / David T. Llewellyn -- 2. Is financial innovation still a relevant issue? / Luisa Anderloni and Paola Bongini -- 3. Microfinance, innovations and commercialisation / Reinhard H. Schmidt -- 4. Technological innovation...