The costs and benefits of subsidized microfinance are still a controversial topic. We evaluate how subsidies affect the cost-efficiency of microfinance institutions (MFIs). At the same time, we account for endogenous self-selection into the business models of credit-only versus...

This paper is the first to draw a global picture of worldwide microfinance equity by taking full advantage of daily quoted prices. We revisit previous findings showing that investors should consider microfinance as a self-standing sector. Our results are threefold: 1) Microfinance has become...

Using large-cap exchange-traded funds (ETFs), this paper provides guidance on enhancing the performance of long-only factor portfolios through sector-based blending. The blending method builds ETF portfolios that optimize the factor exposure of sectors. We use the original factors of Fama and...

Factor investing emerged as the byproduct of factor models of asset pricing. It consists in holding assets with positive exposure to selected risk factors and, if possible, shorting those with negative exposure. This paper assesses the merits of factor investing on the U.S. stock market by using...

Bitcoin is a major virtual currency. Using weekly data over the 2010-2013 period, we analyze a Bitcoin investment from the standpoint of a U.S. investor with a diversified portfolio including both traditional assets (worldwide stocks, bonds, hard currencies) and alternative investments...

How do women leaders such as board members and top managers influence the social performance of organizations? This paper addresses the question by exploiting a unique database from a Senegalese network of 36 financial cooperatives. We scrutinize the loan-granting decisions, made jointly by the...

Social banks are financial intermediaries paying attention to non-economic (i.e. social, ethical, and environmental) criteria. To investigate the behavior of social banks on the credit market, this paper proposes both theory and empirics. Our theoretical model rationalizes the idea that...

When a financial crisis breaks out, speculators typically get the blame whereas fundamentalists are presented as the safeguard against excessive volatility. This paper proposes an asset pricing model where two types of rational traders coexist: short-term speculators and long-term...

This paper sheds light on a poorly understood phenomenon in microfinance which is often referred to as a "mission drift:" A tendency reviewed by numerous microfinance institutions to extend larger average loan sizes in the process of scaling-up. We argue that this phenomenon is not driven by...

Exploiting cross-sectional and time-series variations in European regulations during the July 2008 – June 2009 period, we show that: Prohibition on covered short selling raises bid-ask spread and reduces trading volume, prohibition on naked short selling raises both volatility and bid-ask...