Tag Search: “financial inclusion”

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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The cycle of debt among vendors in India and the Philippines

Many street vendors rely on daily or weekly loans from moneylenders to finance working capital. Given the high interest rates, why do they not use a little bit of each day’s earnings to buy working ca...

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