Week of July 16, 2012

We haven’t posted an update on stuff we’ve been reading for quite some time. So, here’s a round-up of some to the articles, blogs and papers we’ve been reading. 

• Shamika Ravi on the Microfinance Bill 2012: A Move Towards Responsible Microfinance in India 
• The Wall Street Journal on the Indian government’s introduction of a bill to regulate microfinance 
• Andhra Pradesh government doesn't like India's federal government’s microfinance bill, and seeks changes 
• Hope Springs a Trap, an Economist article on microfinance for the ultra-poor. 
• David Roodman talks about whether microfinance works and his new book, Due Diligence, with Owen Barder at the Development Drums
• Timothy Ogden on women, banking and financial inclusion  and why the social component matters 
• Digicel Debuts First Non-Bank Mobile Payment System 
• Segmentation for Innovation: Understanding the Financial Service Needs of the Poor in Mexico 
• Financial Inclusion and Stability--what does research show? Scary how little we really know. 
• The future is here: An innovative bank that doesn't treat its poorest customers as a different species 
• The Economist: Banking in the developing world: The poor are different 
• "Is Behavioral Finance Relevant to (Consumer Protection) Policymaking?" 
• The Financial Literacy Movement: Some recent evidence about financial education 
• Financial Literacy: A Review of the Literature 
• The New York Times "Bits" column on the microinsurance revolution
• Esther Duflo and the "Benefits of Hope" 
• The 1 Percent’s Problem: Joseph Stiglitz on why plutocrats should care about inequality in Vanity Fair 
• Harvard Kennedy School Study: "Why Girls Fare Better Than Boys When Moving Out of Poor Neighborhoods"
• Economics from the neck down: "The Biology of Bubble and Crash" 
• French intellectual Pierre Bourdieu on photography, seeing and Algeria’s poor 
• Chris Berg on Remittances Dominate Aid Yet Remain Unspoken 
• Charles Kenney on the "Big Mac Theory of Development" featuring findings from new paper from Princeton Economist Orley Ashenfelter 
• The Global Findex Database: The World Bank’s Development Research Group, has constructed the Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) database as the first public database of indicators that consistently measure people’s use of financial products across economies and over time. 
• Givewell.org’s review of the Millenium Village Program is a good overview of the concerns raised 
• Social Investment: A Review of the Literature 
• Marc Bellemare writes on "Replication, Publication Bias & Negative Findings" 
• The rise of microcurrencies changing how we buy and our societal relations 
• Supporting the U.S. Working Poor Thru Policy Initiatives in Delaware