VOLUME 5(2) • 2012
The Voices of Microfinance Clients: Evidence from Ghana
ABSTRACT. The role of microfinance institutions as a potential policy tool for poverty reduction has received great attention in recent years. Empirical evidence from existing research shows some positive effects in poverty alleviation from some microfinance schemes. In contrast, other findings sugg..
Rethinking Micro-entrepreneurs Financing by MFIs in Cameroon: Human OR Economic capital?
ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to examine the economic and human characteristics of micro-entrepreneurs that affect their financing by Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Cameroon. The study uses OLS (Ordinary Least Square) multiple regression equations to examine these characteristics. Resu..
Microfinance Institutions: A Profitable Investment Alternative?
ABSTRACT. The promise of microfinance institutions (MFIs) to transform lives, and their limited success—so far—has maintained MFIs prominence in the literature for years. We examine the question of MFI financial sustainability using the familiar variable, return on equity (ROE), and data from the Mi..
Efficiency of Microfinance Institutions in India for Poverty Alleviation
ABSTRACT. This Study measures the efficiency and its determinants of a heterogeneous sample of microfinance institutions operating in India. We apply a stochastic frontier approach to unbalanced panel of 40 microfinance institutions for the period 2005-08. The mean efficiency level of microfinance i..
Micro-Finance from Bangladesh to the United States: Beneficial or Detrimental to Nascent Entrepreneurs?
ABSTRACT. In 1976, the Grameen Bank was launched in Bangladesh to provide very small loans to impoverished women in poor rural areas of the country. Since then this financing model has been lauded and replicated in many countries. This article examines the nature and status of micro-loan programs th..
Micro Finance Institution Lending and Female Entrepreneurs
ABSTRACT. We examine whether the microfinance institutions’ lending patterns to women are solely a function of institution choice or whether those decisions are influenced by the economic and social environment in which the institution operates. We find that while the institution specific factors ar..
Microfinance Impact on Poor Rural Women Household-Level Employment: Bargaining Models Approach (The DESCI1 Case: Tigrai State, Northern Ethiopia)
ABSTRACT. This paper adds a game theoretic bargaining model of gender relations within the household to understand the effects of microfinance. It uses propensity score matching to analyze these outcomes. It argues that for assessing microfinance outcomes beyond access to loanable funds. By looking ..
Empirical Microfinance: Towards Those Macro Goals
ABSTRACT. The promise of microfinance is a double bottom line proposition: those microfinance institutions (MFI) that follow the principles of good banking will also be those that alleviate the most poverty. Yet, it is unclear that this promise holds up. We see many stories about microfinance succes..