This review examines portions of the vast literature on rural financial markets and household
behavior in the face of risk and uncertainty and limited commitment. In addition to examining …

Rural microfinance must contend with the triple challenges of isolation, small‐scale
transactions, and risk. These challenges result in information asymmetries and transaction …

Expanding access to financial services holds the promise to help reduce poverty and spur
economic development. But, as a practical matter, commercial banks have faced challenges …

Two leading economists develop a theory explaining the demand for and supply of liquid
assets. Why do financial institutions, industrial companies, and households hold low …

Group liability in microcredit purports to improve repayment rates through peer screening,
monitoring, and enforcement. However, it may create excessive pressure, and discourage …

This review puts a corporate finance lens on microfinance. Microfinance aims to democratize
global financial markets through new contracts, organizations, and technology. We explain …

In this paper, we investigate the impact of monitoring and social ties on moral hazard
behavior within group lending programs. Our study is based on data from an extensive …

Many believe that a key innovation by the Grameen Bank is to encourage borrowers to help
each other in hard times. To analyse this, we study a mechanism design problem where …

Group liability is often portrayed as the key innovation that led to the explosion of the
microcredit movement, which started with the Grameen Bank in the 1970s and continues on …

Abstract Group liability in microcredit purports to improve repayment rates through peer
screening, monitoring, and enforcement. However, it may create excessive pressure, and …