1. Microfinance: FAI affiliate Daniel Rozas takes a in-depth look at multiple borrowing and overindebtedness and warns of an potential credit crisis in Mexico. European Microfinance Platform
2. Credit: As it turns out, the most honest borrowers are not necessarily the best borrowers. Quartz
3. Transfers: Segovia, a spin-off of GiveDirectly, has plans to build a platform for goverments and other institutions to distribute cash transfers efficiently and on a large scale. Council On Foreign Relations
4. Mobile Money: "On paper, digital financial services can sound like a silver bullet to reach millions of rural, underserved smallholder farmers. In reality, the challenges can be greater than the deployment of a low-tech solution." CGAP
5. The World Cup: Root for the soccer outcome that will produce the largest aggregate increase in happiness. The New York Times
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Ten years ago, FAI managing director Tim Ogden published Experimental Conversations, a collection of interviews with economists and other people who critique, promote, and use randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in development economics. One of the interviewees was Michael Kremer, a pioneer of the movement, now a Nobel laureate, and recently appointed Chief Economist of the World Bank.