The performance, management, and risk exposure of financial institutions operating in rural and agricultural markets determine the cost of agriculture’s ongoing access to financial capital. The evolution of general banking and agricultural finance research contributions in the structure,...

In spite of increasing pressure on microfinance institutions (MFIs) operating in developing countries to transform into regulated financial intermediaries, to date, no study has investigated whether regulated MFIs actually achieve better financial results and reach more poor clients than...

Microfinance institutions are important, particularly in developing countries, because they expand the frontier of financial intermediation by providing loans to those traditionally excluded from formal financial markets. This paper presents the first systematic statistical examination of the...

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) play a key role in many developing countries. Utilizing data from Eastern Europe and Central Asia, MFIs are found to generally operate with lower costs the longer they are in operation. Given the differences in operating environments, subsidies, and...