This paper evaluates the efficacy of two alternative lending technologies - the traditional banking technology and a cash flow based counseling program - by using competing risks (option-based) and choice theoretic approaches. We find evidence to support the notion that low-income borrowers have...

This paper investigates the extent to which an active agricultural policy directed to the return and/or the variability of return in farming that is understood and anticipated, where the political process creates parameter uncertainty and noise about the precise timing of reform, influences the...

This paper examines the dynamic relationship between monetary policy variables and agricultural prices using alternative VAR-type model specifications. Time series techniques as currently specified in most studies raises issues of misspecification and inferential adequacy because observational...

Replaced with revised version of paper 10/22/02.

Biotechnology techniques have played an important role in meeting farmer's needs in the seed industry given the changes in customer's preferences. This paper analytically evaluates the time paths of pricing a portfolio of seeds, which simultaneously encourages seed adoption and maximizes a...

Many policy makers and businesses erroneously believe that rural populations, particularly in Africa, have no margin for savings over consumption needs. This study examines the potential for financial savings in rural Mozambican households by looking at the determinants of savings behavior. An...

This paper studies how various governance mechanisms affect the performance of microfinance institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States. Results show that managerial compensation matters, that market forces are becoming important disciplining device, and that...

This article evaluates the effects of including the costs of bankruptcy in a dynamic model of off-farm investment decisions using a stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) model which incorporates the stochastic dynamic nature of investment returns and the interrelationships between financial...