Micro-finance supports mainly informal activities that often have low market demand. It may be thus hypothesized that the aggregate poverty impact of micro-finance in an economy with low economic growth is modest or nonexistent. The observed borrower-level poverty impact is then a result of...

The microfinance industry in Bangladesh currently provides access to credit to around 13 million poor households. The author describes the factors that led to the scaling-up of micro-credit in Bangladesh, the impact this has hadon the poor, future challenges in Bangladesh, and possible lessons...

This paper is aimed at identifying the sources of income insecurity and vulnerability among workers in the informal sector in developing countries and examines alternative approaches to social protection for the informal sector. This is followed by a discussion on the challenges of developing a...

Social protection can be defined as interventions intended to assist individuals, households, and communities in managing risk in order to reduce vulnerability, smooth consumption, and improve equity. Social protection in Togo has been put to test by the political and economic developments of...

Arguably, the most important public policy initiative underway today in the Dominican Republic is the reform of its social security programs. The reform is taking place in the context of an economic crisis that will make a complex implementation process even more difficult in the first few...

The trend toward including individual accounts as part of the mandatory pension system continues unabated. Nine Latin American countries have introduced individual accounts (Chile, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Bolivia, Mexico, El Salvador and Nicaragua) and several more are preparing to...

The authors investigate the impact of labor market regulations in settings where compliance is incomplete. They review some stylized facts about labor market behavior, present an analytical model that may explain such behavior, and provide a checklist for assessing the distortionary impact of a...

In Lima, Peru, the informal sector makes up half the labor force, accounts for 61 percent of the hours worked, and generates an astounding 39 percent of GDP. More than half the street vendors are women. In the informal sector, the free play of market forces determines returns to productive...

In recent years -as a result of economic contraction, declining employment and real wages, and changes in labor market behavior- Ukraine's tax base of the social security system has declined, threatening its sustainability. About 40 percent of the labor force works in the informal sector, paying...

The authors use a panel-data set for the period 1980-2002 to estimate demand for electricity and telecommunications services and project investment needs in South Africa through 2010 for two growth scenarios. Projections of average annual investment needs in electricity and telecommunications...