This paper examines the issue of foreign aid and cash transfers to individuals in low-income economies typically found in Africa. Old-age conditional cash transfers and new mobile banking technology can cope with the well-documented problems related to moral hazard and high transaction costs...

Microfinance – the provision of financial services to the poor – is high on the public agenda. We discuss and evaluate three myths regarding microfinance based on new data from rated microfinance institutions (MFIs). The first myth is that an efficient MFI needs to be shareholder owned; second...

The microfinance industry carries every sign of an innovation in its take-off phase. The various aspects of the microfinance innovation were developed in the 1980's, twenty years later the industry experiences a phenomenal growth rate, and it has diffused to most developing countries in the...

We investigate the microbank's choice of lending methodology with particular emphasis on group and individual loans. The repayment hypothesis says that the group loan is chosen since borrowers repay under a group loan scheme. The dual objectives hypothesis investigates the choice when the...

Claims have been made that microfinance institutions (MFIs) experience mission drift as they increasingly cater to customers who are better off than their original customers. We investigate mission drift using average loan size as a main proxy and the MFIs lending methodology, main market, and...

The aim of this chapter is, first, to provide the reader with basic knowledge about microfinance and how this is relevant for people with disabilities. Second, the chapter outlines the main mechanisms leading to exclusion from services and identifies strategies to improve the current situation...

We examine the relationship between firm performance and corporate governance in microfinance institutions (MFI) using a self-constructed global dataset on MFIs collected from third-party rating agencies. Using random effects panel data estimations, we study the effects of board and CEO...

Is the microfinance institution (MFI) able to charge unduly high lending rates and obtain a profitability incompatible with perfect competition? We use a global panel data set of MFIs. The Panzar and Rosse revenue test in static and dynamic versions is employed, together with analyses of price...

This study uses a unique, hand-collected sample of microfinance institutions from 73 countries that typically are not investigated in accounting research to analyze the relationships between audit quality and governance mechanisms. We examine two measures of audit quality, namely, the use of Big...

Microbanks provide financial services to low income people. Governance of these organizations is important for them to efficiently reach poor people and survive financially. Board is one among several governance mechanisms. This paper empirically analyses the influence of stakeholders who sit on...