February 6, 2012
January 31, 2012
January 9, 2012
January 6, 2012
April 30, 2010
Three cheers for the World Bank Open Data Initiative
Observers of FAI know that if there’s one thing we love, it’s data. Real, hard data that’s high quality and readily available to everyone. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we’re pleased with the World Bank’s landmark decision to make its data accessible to anyone who wants it.
April 29, 2010
Esther Duflo wins the Clark Medal
Congratulations to Esther Duflo on winning the John Bates Clark Medal, one of the most prestigious awards a young economist can win (some would say second only to the Nobel). And in fact, it has a reputation as a "Baby Nobel" because of how many awardees have gone on to win that prize as well. (You may have heard of Milton Friedman.)
April 27, 2010
Breaking it down: Dealing with Risk
Dylan over at SaveTogether is reading a chapter of Portfolios of the Poor each week and posting his thoughts. In this post he breaks down Chapter 3: Dealing With Risk.
April 23, 2010
Really assessing impact: The power of randomized control trials
April 21, 2010
Consumer protection: When to protect, and how
The 2008 global financial crisis intensified conversations about consumer protection. The financial crisis showed us that overly-liberalized credit markets can lead to overlending by institutions and heavy debt burdens for borrowers. Not surprisingly, the buzz these days is about “responsible banking.”
But self-regulation may not be enough—and may not be appropriate. After all, these are the same banks and institutions that created the original problems. Regulators are thus determining their next steps.
Themes:
Consumer Protection
April 20, 2010
Self Help Groups in India: Living up to their Promise?
This month Frances Sinha is writing about lessons from her important new book, Microfinance Self-Help Groups in India: Living Up to Their Promise. Her first post introduced the book. Today's post describes some of the most striking lessons.
April 19, 2010
Attention Program Implementers! 3ie issues call for programs to be evaluated
3ie, the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, has released a call for proposals for programs to be evaluated. Unlike 3ie's Open Window, in which researchers submit evaluation proposals, this Policy Window is a call for government agencies and NGOs from developing countries to propose programs worth evaluating. 3ie will then issue RFPs to potential researchers for bids to evaluate the winning entries.
April 16, 2010
An industry impact statement – without impact?
Last week, a group of leading microfinance organizations came out with a joint statement on measuring the impact of microfinance. It had Accion and Grameen, Unitus and Finca, Opportunity International, and Women’s World Banking.
Themes:
Big Picture, Credit
April 16, 2010
What we're tweeting this week
Follow us on Twitter @financialaccess
A better PR campaign for #microfinance would involve stories AND empirical evidence. http://bit.ly/bRyo6L
April 14, 2010
Microfinance makes the cover of the New York Times
Interesting that the New York Times changed the headline from "Big Banks Draw Big Profits From Microloans to the Poor" (from the online edition at 5 pm on 4/13) to "Many Borrowers of Microloans Now Find the Price is Too High" in the print today. It's a nice double-entendre now, and shifts the message onto the plight of customers, off of MFIs.
Themes:
Big Picture, Credit, Interest Rates
April 13, 2010
Managing expectations, or, freeing microfinance from the role of panacea
“Can magical microfinance eradicate poverty?” asks India’s Financial Express this week. Magical. Herein lies the problem that microfinance faces today. Recent research has revealed that microfinance might not be what we thought – or what many hoped it was.
Themes:
Big Picture, Credit
April 9, 2010
More debate on measuring the impact of microfinance
The debate over the impact of access to microcredit continues, with a group of practitioners entering the fray with the publication of "Measuring the Impact of Microfinance: Our Perspective." The release of this document, which is signed by Acción International, FINCA, Grameen Foundation, Opportunity International, Unitus, and Women´s World Banking, accompanies an Themes: Credit
April 7, 2010
Adventures in online adverstising, part II
Among the acronyms, FAI fared the best, outperforming Princeton, Harvard, and Yale. J-PAL narrowly edged out its counterpart IPA, and was right on the heels of Ivies Princeton and Harvard. But before any acronym organization gets too excited, we must note there was no significant difference between real and impostor acronyms. Although J-PAL and FAI marginally outperformed their impostors, IPA actually had a slightly lower click-through rate than "impostor" ITA. These findings unfortunately temper our enthusiasm at IPA and its fellow research groups apparently having