The present study contributes to the extant literature by assessing how microfinance institutions (MFIs) affect female entrepreneurship, contingent on female unemployment levels. The study focuses on 44 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for the period 2004 to 2018. The empirical evidence is...

The success of joint liability programs depends on nature and composition of borrowing groups. Group formation is a costly process and in our model these costs vary with the social identity of group partners. We show that risk heterogeneity in a borrowing group may arise due to the social...

Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) play a crucial role in driving economic growth and job creation, particularly in developing nations. These enterprises constitute the majority of businesses globally and contribute significantly to employment and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However,...

We study the provision of financial services to small firms, consumers, and workers in developing countries as part of value chain relationships: value chain microfinance (VCMF). We first explore how VCMF can both overcome barriers to financial access - including asymmetric information,...

This study examines how the starting of business by females can be promoted by assessing critical levels of microfinance institutions (MFIs) penetration that policy makers must endeavour to maintain and/or attain in order for female unemployment not to represent a constraint in the doing of...

The present study contributes to the extant literature by assessing how microfinance institutions (MFIs) affect female entrepreneurship, contingent on female unemployment levels. The study focuses on 44 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for the period 2004 to 2018. The empirical evidence is...

A growing number of formal commercial banks are increasingly showing interest in financing the vast underserved and untapped market of microenterprises in Ghana. However, the greater majority are still on the fence and are hesitant to venture into microlending. Using field survey data from a...

At the 2010 G20 Summit, the use of formal financial services was recognized as one of the main pillars of the global development agenda. At the same time, the fifth goal of the Sustainable development agenda outlined the importance of gender inclusion for sustainable development. Empirical...

The present study assesses the relevance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the effect of financial access on gender economic inclusion in 44 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for the period 2004 to 2018. The adopted empirical strategy is interactive quantile regressions that are...

This study investigates the legitimacy of the relatively high interest rates charged by those microfinance institutions (MFIs) which have been transformed into regulated commercial banks using information garnered from a panel of 1232 MFIs from 107 developing countries. Results show that...