Microfinance has been heralded as an effective way to address imperfections in credit markets. From a theoretical perspective, however, the success of microfinance contracts has puzzling elements. In particular, the group-based mechanisms often employed are vulnerable to free-riding and collusion, although they can also reduce moral hazard and improve selection. We created an experimental econo...

Microfinance programs and institutions are increasingly important in development strategies but knowledge about their impacts is partial and contested. This paper reviews the methodological options for the impact assessment (IA) of microfinance. Following a discussion of the varying objectives of IA it examines the choice of conceptual frameworks and presents three paradigms of impact assessmen...

This paper analyses the welfare effects of microfinance and inflation in developing countries. Therefore, we introduce a moral hazard problem into a monetary search model with money and credit. We show how access to basic financial services affects households’ decisions to borrow, to save and to hold money balances. The group lending mechanism of the microfinance institution induces peer monito...

Table of Contents Foreword 1 1. Why use control groups in impact assessments of microfinance projects? 3 2. Biases of the control-group method and how to avoid them 7 2.1 Sample selection bias 7 2.2 Misspecification of underlying causal relationships 9 2.3 Motivational problems 10 3. Conclusions and recommendations 15 General recommendations 18 Recommendations for evaluators and donors 18 Recom...

this study attempts to examine the operational efficiency of thirty-two microfinance institutions in india. operational efficiency in microfinance institutions refers to how well microfinance institutions allocate the input resources. since the study is an exploratory nature, therefore, the data are collected from mix market on annual basis. it covers the seven-year period ranging from 2005-06 ...

Informal sector lenders remain a strong presence in rural India in terms of providing credit facilities in rural India. Farmers and rural poor borrowings from Money lenders and other informal sources of rural credit still significant this sources some extent i.e. 77 percent to 32 percent. In this situation micro finance has emerged as an alternative source of rural credit, microfinance programm...

Microfinance has been developed as alternative solution for global poverty alleviation effort in the last 30 years. Microfinance institution (MFI) has unique characteristic wherein they face double bottom line objectives of outreach to the poor and financial sustainability. This study proposes a two-stage analysis to measure Islamic Microfinance institutions (IMFIs) performance by comparing the...

a r t i c l e i n f o The expansion of microfinance has triggered concerns of rising indebtedness, and higher default and interest rates. Using a screening model, we show that even if interest and default rates increase due to expansion, borrower welfare may improve. This is because: (i) all borrowers previously denied credit can obtain loans, and (ii) screening costs for pre-existing borrowers...

This paper compares, for a microfinance institution, the performance of two individual classification models: Logistic Regression (Logit) and Multi-Layer Perceptron Neural Network (MLP), to evaluate the credit risk problem and discriminate good creditors from bad ones. Credit scoring systems are currently in common use by numerous financial institutions worldwide. However, credit scoring using ...

The increasing importance of Information Systems (IS) in the global economy prompts microfinance researchers to view the industry from an interdisciplinary perspective. A review paper for microfinance from the IS perspective will create a firm foundation for advancing knowledge. It will facilitate theory development, close areas where a plethora of research exists, and uncover areas where resea...