Tag Search: “financial inclusion”
India’s insurance sector: Challenges and opportunities
While India’s insurance sector has been growing dynamically in recent years, its share in the global insurance market remains abysmally low. This article traces the journey of the Indian insurance sec...
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Kuntala Bandyopadhyay
Saon Ray
Vasundhara Thakur
31 August, 2020
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How self-help groups enable households to cope with climatic shocks
Climate variability and extremes, combined with a lack of appropriate insurance devices, pose a risk to rain-fed agriculture and large populations in developing countries. This article examines how se...
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Timothée Demont
23 July, 2020
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How microfinance can help entrepreneurs escape the poverty trap
The idea of poverty traps being important for microenterprises is captured in the adage “it takes money to make money”. This article reports on a study following households in India exposed to differe...
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Abhijit Banerjee
Emily Breza
Esther Duflo
Cynthia Kinnan
15 May, 2020
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Using intermediaries to deliver credit
Communities are monitoring service providers, and local governments are delivering development and welfare programmes in developing countries. This article indicates the potential value of enlarging t...
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Pushkar Maitra
Sandip Mitra
Dilip Mookherjee
Sujata Visaria
02 March, 2020
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The missing women in finance
Women comprise a very small proportion of the financial industry workforce, and this has implications on the way female clients use and benefit from financial services. This article discusses if the f...
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Renana Jhabvala
Soumya Kapoor Mehta
Sonal Sharma
13 December, 2019
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Empowering women through direct digital wage payments
India’s rate of female labour force participation dropped from 37% in 1990 to 28% in 2015. Can greater control over earned income incentivise women to work and influence gender norms? This article dis...
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Erica Field
Charity Troyer Moore
Rohini Pande
Natalia Rigol
Simone Schaner
29 November, 2019
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What lies behind this year's economics Nobel
In this post, Maitreesh Ghatak discusses how randomised controlled trials – the use of which was pioneered by this year’s economics Nobel Laureates, Banerjee, Duflo, and Kremer – have been successfull...
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Maitreesh Ghatak
25 October, 2019
- Perspectives
Can the microcredit model be improved?
Microcredit is frequently touted as an effective policy tool to fight global poverty. However, studies suggest that the long-term impact on recipients’ lives is limited. In this post, Mushfiq Mobarak ...
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Vikas Dimble
Mushfiq Mobarak
21 August, 2019
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Closing gender gaps in India: Does increasing women’s access to finance help?
Gender gaps in women’s economic opportunities – in the labour market and in entrepreneurship – have remained high in India. This article analyses the macroeconomic impact of closing gender gaps in acc...
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Purva Khera
16 August, 2019
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Labelled loans and sanitation investments
Rural Indian households report lack of affordability as the main reason for not having a toilet. This article investigates – through an experiment in rural Maharashtra – whether microcredit labelled f...
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Britta Augsburg
Bet Caeyers
Sara Giunti
Bansi Malde
Susanna Smets
15 May, 2019
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Measuring the equilibrium impacts of credit: Evidence from India’s 2010 microfinance crisis
In October 2010, the government of Andhra Pradesh issued an emergency ordinance, bringing microfinance activities in the state to a complete halt and causing a nationwide shock to the liquidity of len...
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Emily Breza
Cynthia Kinnan
13 July, 2018
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Financial inclusion in India: Progress and prospects
Financial inclusion is globally considered as a critical indicator of development and well-being of society. In this post, Srinivasa Rao traces the financial inclusion journey in India so far, and dis...
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K. Srinivasa Rao
11 July, 2018
- Perspectives