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Distances involved in accessing basic services can constitute a major barrier to development. This paper analyzes the relationship between the distance separating households from microfinance institutions' offices in Niger, and the low levels of development and performance of the microfinance sector in the country. To cope with the effects of geographical distance, microfinance institutions adapt their policies through more restrictive loan conditions, higher interest rates, and more intensive screening. The authors to discuss the tension between access and sustainability in the context of financial services for the poor.

Access to Finance --- Access to finance --- Bankruptcy and Resolution of Financial Distress --- Credit market --- Credit market access --- Debt Markets --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial services --- Households --- Interest rates --- Loan --- Loan conditions --- Microfinance --- Microfinance institutions

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This paper estimates the relationship between initial village inequality and subsequent household income growth for a large sample of households in rural China. Using a rich longitudinal survey spanning the years 1987-2002, and controlling for an array of household and village characteristics, the paper finds that households located in higher inequality villages experienced significantly lower income growth through the 1990s. However, local inequality's predictive power and effects are significantly diminished by the end of the sample. The paper exploits several advantages of the household-level data to explore hypotheses that shed light on the channels by which inequality affects growth. Biases due to aggregation and heterogeneity of returns to own-resources, previously suggested as candidate explanations for the relationship, are both ruled out. Instead, the evidence points to unobserved village institutions at the time of economic reforms that were associated with household access to higher income activities as the source of the link between inequality and growth. The empirical analysis addresses a number of pertinent econometric issues including measurement error and attrition, but underscores others that are likely to be intractable for all investigations of the inequality-growth relationship.

Access to Finance --- Annual Growth --- Credit Market --- Dynamic Panel --- Economic Reforms --- Empirical Analysis --- Enterprises --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Household Income --- Income Growth --- Inequality --- Poverty Impact Evaluation --- Poverty Reduction --- Rural Inequality --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Services & Transfers to Poor --- Villages

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This paper estimates the relationship between initial village inequality and subsequent household income growth for a large sample of households in rural China. Using a rich longitudinal survey spanning the years 1987-2002, and controlling for an array of household and village characteristics, the paper finds that households located in higher inequality villages experienced significantly lower income growth through the 1990s. However, local inequality's predictive power and effects are significantly diminished by the end of the sample. The paper exploits several advantages of the household-level data to explore hypotheses that shed light on the channels by which inequality affects growth. Biases due to aggregation and heterogeneity of returns to own-resources, previously suggested as candidate explanations for the relationship, are both ruled out. Instead, the evidence points to unobserved village institutions at the time of economic reforms that were associated with household access to higher income activities as the source of the link between inequality and growth. The empirical analysis addresses a number of pertinent econometric issues including measurement error and attrition, but underscores others that are likely to be intractable for all investigations of the inequality-growth relationship.

Access to Finance --- Annual Growth --- Credit Market --- Dynamic Panel --- Economic Reforms --- Empirical Analysis --- Enterprises --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Household Income --- Income Growth --- Inequality --- Poverty Impact Evaluation --- Poverty Reduction --- Rural Inequality --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Services & Transfers to Poor --- Villages

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Until recently rigorous impact evaluations have been rare in the area of finance and private sector development. One reason for this is the perception that many policies and projects in this area lend themselves less to formal evaluations. However, a vanguard of new impact evaluations on areas as diverse as fostering microenterprise growth, microfinance, rainfall insurance, and regulatory reform demonstrates that in many circumstances serious evaluation is possible. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize and distil the policy and implementation lessons emerging from these studies, use them to demonstrate the feasibility of impact evaluations in a broader array of topics, and thereby help prompt new impact evaluations for projects going forward.

Access to credit --- Access to Finance --- Access to finance --- Bankruptcy and Resolution of Financial Distress --- Banks --- Banks and Banking Reform --- Capital investment --- Capital stock --- Credit constraints --- Credit market --- Credit market failures --- Debt Markets --- Emerging Markets --- Entrepreneurial ability --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Literacy --- Financial support --- Greater access --- Households --- Interest rates --- International bank --- Key challenges --- Lack of capital --- Loan --- Microfinance --- Private Sector Development --- Self-employment --- Source of income

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The paper discusses the reasons for supporting international trade finance during a liquidity crisis. Targeted interventions are justified when prices are rigid and sellers insist on immediate payment due to fears of strategic default. In this case, buyers who reject the seller's offer fail to internalize the seller's benefit from additional liquidity. A general infusion of credit will not facilitate the beneficial transaction, but an infusion targeted at the buyer's bank's trade finance supply will do so. Since there is a need for interventions in one country to benefit actors in another, international coordination is called for.

Access to Finance --- Asymmetric information --- Bank credit --- Borrower --- Contract enforcement --- Credit market --- Credit policies --- Credit subsidies --- Debt Markets --- Economic Theory and Research --- Emerging Markets --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial markets --- Government interventions --- International Bank --- International Economics & Trade --- International Trade --- International transactions --- Law and Development --- Liquidity --- Liquidity Crisis --- Loan --- Moral hazard --- Private Sector Development --- Trade credit --- Trade Finance --- Trade Law --- Transaction