Accurate measurement of stock levels, turnover, and profitability in microenterprises in developing countries is difficult due to the fact that the majority of these firms do not keep detailed records. We test the use of RFID tags as a means of objectively measuring stock levels and stock flow...

We examine how participation in a microfinance program diffuses through social networks. We collected detailed demographic and social network data in 43 villages in South India before microfinance was introduced in those villages and then tracked eventual participation. We exploit exogenous...

This paper reports the results from a randomized evaluation of a microcredit program introduced in rural areas of Morocco starting in 2006 by Al Amana, the country’s largest microfinance institution. Al Amana was the only MFI operating in the study areas during the evaluation period. Thirteen...

We investigate the puzzle of microfinance: that loans generate large measured returns for businesses, yet loan take-up is low and the businesses often close. We analyze a randomized trial that bundled microfinance loans with a cheap health insurance policy. Requiring clients to purchase...

This paper investigates how the permanent departure of the father from the household affects children’s school enrolment and work participation in rural Colombia. Our results show that departure of the father decreases children’s school enrolment by around 4 percentage points, and increases...

Recent studies indicate that the natural resource curse, that is, the negative link between resource abundance and growth, may operate through a country's financial system. Scholars show that resource-abundant economies suffer from lower financial development, which may indirectly affect...

The paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the natural resource curse, which postulates a negative link between natural resource abundance and economic growth. It shows empirically that resource-rich countries appear to have a less developed financial system and investigates a potential...

En la mayoría de los países de América Central, la liquidez de la banca comercial se encuentra por encima de los requisitos legales o prudenciales establecidos. Si bien ello beneficia la estabilidad financiera, los elevados montos de liquidez obstaculizan la profundización financiera y la...

Banks’ liquidity holdings are comfortably above legal or prudential requirements in most Central American countries. While good for financial stability, high liquidity may nonetheless hinder financial market development and monetary policy transmission. Using a panel of 96 commercial banks...

This paper uses survey data for 60,000 households from 29 transition economies in 2006 and 2010 to explore how the use of banking services is related to household characteristics, as well as to bank ownership, deposit insurance and creditor protection. At the household level we find that the...