Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are often seen by aid practitioners as a manifestly effective means of improving the … paper surveys the evidence from Asia and Latin America and contrasts experiences in the two regions. Studies on the former … have been carried out more “rigorously”, but in both regions the evidence that microfinance is reaching the core poor is …

The micro-finance revolution has changed attitudes towards helping the poor in many countries and in some has provided … far surpassed the research capacity to analyze them, so excitement about the use of micro-finance for poverty alleviation … to allocate confidently public resources to micro-finance development.” (Zeller and Meyer 2002).This is a very strong …

impact of microfinance activities on poverty reduction. In particular we ask what is the evidence on three specific issues …:– the extent to which microfinance initiatives have made a lasting difference in pulling households out of poverty on a … permanent basis;– the extent to which microfinance programs reach only the better-off amongst the poor, leaving the ‘core poor …

experience in microfinance provision in both Asia and Latin America, but as yet relatively little use of the approach in China …Microfinance, the provision of small size loans and other financial services to low income households, is often seen as …. This paper assesses different approaches to microfinance delivery using a threefold distinction, the credit union approach …

; microfinance ; credit constraint ; Thailand ; Asia …This paper examines whether recently introduced village fundsʺ, one of the largest microfinance programs ever …

This paper surveys recent research on micro-finance and suggests directions for future research. New empirical evidence …