Informal Finance and Formal Microfinance PDF Download

Author: Pierre-Germain UMUHIRE
Publisher: Presses universitaires de Louvain
ISBN: 2875581988
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
This dissertation endeavours to shed light on the paradox of the persistence of informal finance in urban African markets despite the emergence of a vibrant microfinance sector. To do so, it analyses the rationale of the financial choices of the micro-entrepreneurs operating in the markets of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). In particular, a careful examination of the motives driving the combinative use of informal and formal microfinance is carried. In order to lay deep theoretical foundations to this analysis, this thesis develops a model describing the financial behaviour of the micro-entrepreneurs in the presence of hyperbolic preferences and social influences. The solution of this model shows, inter alia, that the financial choices are not solely driven by economic motivations but also by social motivations. This result is confirmed by empirical observations which show, among other things, that social relations play an important role in explaining the persistence of informal finance. Besides, it appeared also that the combinative use of informal finance and microfinance can be explained, on the one side, by the fact that the motives driving the demand for informal and for formal finance are not always the same and, on the other side, by the fact that these two types of financial mechanisms are more likely to be used as complements than as substitutes. Ultimately, this thesis unfolds a new perspective for apprehending the coexistence of informal and formal microfinance. Informal finance is no longer considered as a makeshift, but as an integral part of the financial landscape of the Sub-Saharan urban financial markets. Therefore, microfinance institutions and policy makers ought to adopt a more positive and pro-active attitude vis-à-vis informal finance.

Author: Todd A Watkins
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
ISBN: 9813140755
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 427

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Book Description
Microfinance has grown from the obscure efforts of a few philanthropic institutions into a global industry that reaches 150-200 million clients through the branches of thousands of institutions. Microfinance has matured from exclusively funding loans to providing savings, insurance, healthcare, and education. Yet many people still think of it narrowly as microcredit. Understanding remains thin of what the industry does, how it functions and why.Introduction to Microfinance provides a non-technical introduction to the broad array of inclusive financial and non-financial services for the world's poor. It explores the financial lives of those families, and the microfinance institutions and rapidly growing industry that serve them. Written in close collaboration with college students for college students, under the auspices of one of the US's leading undergraduate programs in microfinance, it is the first-ever introductory college textbook about microfinance.What is microfinance? What are its methods and why? Does it work? What are its prospects and challenges? Why is it controversial? This book tackles these questions and more.

Author: Patrick Avato
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3656180865
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 29

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Economics - Monetary theory and policy, grade: A= 1,0, Johns Hopkins University (School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)), course: Theories and Models of Economic Development, 29 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Credit markets in developing countries differ substantially from their counterparts in OECD countries. Apart from the obvious differences in institutional development, technology and productivity which are both measures for and causes of underdevelopment, typ ical LDC credit markets have two main characteristics. Firstly, their financial systems are very small compared those in industrial economies. Secondly, developing countries are characterized by very big informal financial sectors that coexist with formal credit institutions. Interestingly, credit contracts differ highly between these two sectors and there seems to be only very limited inter-sector competition. The following paper ventures to explain the persistence of these peculiarities in rural credit markets1 using the model of asymmetric information in credit markets developed by Stiglitz and Weiss. By applying the model specifically to LDC credit markets I show that asymmetric information is among the major reasons for the underdevelopment of rural credit markets. Building on these findings I then explain how Microfinance Institutions (MFI) have lately been able to overcome some of the problems of imperfect information and strive in markets formerly dominated by informal money lenders. The first part of this paper provides an overview of the typical characteristics of credit markets in developing countries, concentrating on the limited size of LDC credit markets and on the apparent dichotomy between formal and informal finance sectors. Then, the importance of financial systems for economic development is briefly outlined in order to explain the relevance of the topic of this essay. The main part of the paper then pre

Author: Dale W Adams
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429710585
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
Invisible to official statistics and operating outside the reach of governmental regulation, informal finance markets often prove more efficient and more fair than their formal counterparts. The authors of these studies emphasize the diversity and richness of informal credit markets.

Author: Prabhu Ghate
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
In most Asian countries, there exists a dynamic informal financial sector working side by side with formal finance, which has not until now been researched carefully. Informal Finance is based on a research project that examined informal finance in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. The issues encountered in studying each country are discussed, as are regional diversity within countries and the differences between rural and urban areas. Rather than simply summarizing the five country studies on which it is based, Informal Finance presents a synthesis based on a common framework that permits cross-country comparisons.

Author: Akhil Malaki
Publisher: VDM Publishing
ISBN: 9783836487283
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
This study is about informal institutions in informal finance and microfinance in Jamaica and Trinidad-Tobago. Informal institutions are understood as unwritten social norms that cater to specific needs in the society, and can be indirectly captured and measured in their outcome. The institutional framework of this study helps capture the institutional dynamics and the processes in informal finance and microfinance. The framework demonstrates that informal institutions exist in both informal finance and formal microfinance, exposes the interface between financial intermediaries and the informal institutions through certain mechanisms like joint liability and social collateral that reduce information asymmetries and transactions costs. The study also includes an empirical investigation of client needs, preference and benefits that provides the evidence as to why they subscribe to informal institutions via the various financial intermediaries. Academics and students in the area of institutional analysis would particularly find this study of interest. The study also provides some insights to microfinance practitioners in the Caribbean regarding client preferences.

Author: Patrick Avato
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638386848
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 23

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Economics - Monetary theory and policy, grade: A= 1,0, Johns Hopkins University (School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)), course: Theories and Models of Economic Development, language: English, abstract: Credit markets in developing countries differ substantially from their counterparts in OECD countries. Apart from the obvious differences in institutional development, technology and productivity which are both measures for and causes of underdevelopment, typ ical LDC credit markets have two main characteristics. Firstly, their financial systems are very small compared those in industrial economies. Secondly, developing countries are characterized by very big informal financial sectors that coexist with formal credit institutions. Interestingly, credit contracts differ highly between these two sectors and there seems to be only very limited inter-sector competition. The following paper ventures to explain the persistence of these peculiarities in rural credit markets1 using the model of asymmetric information in credit markets developed by Stiglitz and Weiss. By applying the model specifically to LDC credit markets I show that asymmetric information is among the major reasons for the underdevelopment of rural credit markets. Building on these findings I then explain how Microfinance Institutions (MFI) have lately been able to overcome some of the problems of imperfect information and strive in markets formerly dominated by informal money lenders. The first part of this paper provides an overview of the typical characteristics of credit markets in developing countries, concentrating on the limited size of LDC credit markets and on the apparent dichotomy between formal and informal finance sectors. Then, the importance of financial systems for economic development is briefly outlined in order to explain the relevance of the topic of this essay. The main part of the paper then presents the model of asymmetric information in credit markets pioneered by Stiglitz/Weiss as a possible explanation for the causal origins of these characteristics. The last part shows how successful microfinance institutions may succeed in operating in rural credit markets by their ability to overcome problems of imperfect information.

Author: Marguerite Robinson
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821383388
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
Around the world, a revolution is occurring in finance for low-income people. The microfinance revolution is delivering financial services to the economically active poor on a large scale through competing, financially self-sufficient institutions. In a few countries this has already happened; in others it is under way. The emerging microfinance industry has profound implications for social and economic development. For the first time in history, capital is well on its way to being democratized. 'The Microfinance Revolution', in three volumes, is aimed at a diverse readership - economists, bankers, policymakers, donors, and social scientists; microfinance practitioners and specialists in local finance and rural and urban development; and members of the general public interested in development. This first volume, 'Sustainable Finance for the Poor', focuses on the shift from government- and donor-subsidized credit systems to self-sufficient microfinance institutions providing voluntary savings and credit services.

Author: Beatriz Armendariz
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814295655
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 700

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Book Description
Handbook of Microfinance addresses the gap between clients who are benefiting from access to financial services via MFIs, and the potential market, which remains underserved or untapped. This gap can be attributed to a "mismatch" between what consumers, or potential clients, demand and what MFIs offer in terms of financial products. The scope of the book is wide. It includes successes and failures, main challenges and debates, methodologies for impact evaluation via random trials, leading trends in Asia versus Latin America, main efforts in Africa, the importance of value chains in Central America, ethical and gender issues, savings, microinsurance, governance, commercialization trends and the potential advantages and disadvantages of it. Lastly it features main lessons from informal finance and 19th-century credit cooperatives addressing the above-mentioned mismatch.

Author: Manfred Zeller
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN: 080187226X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
Since the 1980s when the microfinance revolution began, much has been accomplished, but the field became more refined in the 1990s as a result of shifts in paradigms, strategies, and development practices. This volume addresses the three policy objectives that now occupy those who wish to use credit as a development tool: financial sustainability of microfinance institutions, outreach to the poor, and welfare impact. Inevitable tradeoffs exist among these objectives, and the book advances an analytical framework that assists students of and experts in microfinance to identify the tradeoffs and synergies at the institutional level and in the policy environment. The book features a wealth of empirical data and innovative analytical studies, and critically discusses the role of public support for microfinance institutions (MFIs) in light of the social costs and benefits generated by such financial systems. The book is organized into five parts. The first discusses the demand for and access to financial services by the poor, emphasizing that demand-oriented, pro-poor financial services are crucial in reaching the poor. The second is concerned with two of the criteria used to evaluate MFIs—outreach and financial sustainability. The third features innovative econometric studies seeking to evaluate the impact of MFIs at the household level. The fourth looks at the role of both public- and private-sector institutions in developing sustainable financial systems. And the fifth summarizes implications for policy and research. Given the lack of sound, empirical literature on microfinance, this volume is sure to advance knowledge and research methodology in the field.