Recent and ongoing research initiatives

FAI, in collaboration with L-IFT & MFO, in-country partners, and other academic researchers

There are many initiatives to help small firms in low-income communities thrive, and yet, on average, small firms don’t grow. What are the barriers impeding small firm growth? Can a deeper understanding of the financial lives and choices of these firms unlock new opportunities?

A global consortium of researchers

The pandemic is a major threat to microfinance institutions, their operations and business models. How are leading MFIs weighing their choices and making decisions? What changes are they making and how will that alter the future of microfinance?

Jonathan Morduch, Jean Lee, Saravana Ravindra & Abu Shonchoy

Urban-to-rural remittances are a big part of the household finances of hundreds of millions of households. Can reducing frictions that limit remittances improve the lives of migrants and their families back home in India, Bangladesh & Pakistan?

Jonathan Morduch

A qualitative assessment of the Compton Pledge, a two-year pilot program for low-income households in Compton, California. What is the role of cash transfers in smoothing financial instability? What is their impact on health, employment, and community development?

Daryl Collins, Rachel Schneider, Jonathan Morduch & Tim Ogden

How do low- and moderate- income Americans make ends meet, day-to-day and week-to-week, over the course of a full year? Revealing hard-to-see aspects of the financial lives of households on the margin to provide new insight to improve financial policies, programs and products.

Daryl Collins, Stuart Rutherford, Orlanda Ruthven & Jonathan Morduch

Everyone has heard of the $2 a day definition of poverty. But how do families actually live on $2 a day? A holistic approach to understanding the sophisticated financial lives of households living on “$2 a day” in Bangladesh, India & South Africa.