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June 18, 2013
The Other Half of the Benefit-Cost Debate
When it comes to costs and benefits, we at FAI tend to focus on benefits. The recent release of the Compartamos microfinance impact evaluation was thus a big event in our office. With our heads in the academic literature, we tend to write a lot about RCTs and other ways to measure benefits of interventions.
June 14, 2013
New & Noteworthy
This week’s “New & Noteworthy” includes a report on rising income and demand for financial services, the impact of “big data” on poverty measurements, and responses to the G8 meeting on impact investing.
June 7, 2013
New & Noteworthy
Electronic banking, social enterprise incubators, and global financial inclusion are all in this week’s round up of what is new and notable in the field.
June 5, 2013
U.S. Financial Diaries Launches Household Profiles
The US Financial Diaries (USFD) project–a partnership among New York University’s Financial Access Initiative (FAI), the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) and Bankable Frontier Associates (BFA) –was launched to examine the financial lives of more than 200 low- and moderate-income households.
My last two posts on the potential repayment crisis in Chiapas described the high risk of a crisis in Chiapas, Mexico, and its potentially devastating consequences to the microfinance sector around the world. But here is the good news: thus far there is no crisis, and one could still be avoided.
May 31, 2013
New & Noteworthy: United States
This is the inaugral edition of New & Noteworthy: United States. This weekly blog will collect what we hope will be mostly new and definitely notable blogs, articles, research and reports related to finance and poverty in the U.S. This week's installment includes new research on breadwinner moms, a report on the installment loan industry and a story about bulk buying as an investment technique and alternative to savings.
May 31, 2013
New & Noteworthy
This week’s mostly new and definitely notable list includes a new report on health insurance in Ghana, investigations into calculating global poverty figures, and new thoughts on financial inclusion.
May 29, 2013
The Socio-Cultural Dimension of Microcredit
Much of the dialogue around microfinance suggests that the poor are universally credit constrained and that cash shortages drive a monolithic demand for credit. As such, microfinance is often treated as a technical, rational and linear process that is characterized by an “if-you-build-it-they-will-come” mindset. Too often overlooked are the contextually specific and nuanced processes that influence consumers’ demand for microcredit in a variety of social, moral, cultural, and political contexts.