 Access to FinanceDean Karlan and Jonathan Morduch Chapter Chapter 71 in Handbook of Development Economics, 2010, vol. 5, pp 4703-4784 from Elsevier Abstract: Expanding access to financial services holds the promise to help reduce poverty and spur economic development. But, as a practical matter, commercial banks have faced challenges expanding access to poor and low-income households in developing economies, and nonprofits have had limited reach. We review recent innovations that are improving the quantity and quality of financial access. They are taking possibilities well beyond early models centered on providing microcredit for small business investment. We focus on new credit mechanisms and devices that help households manage cash flows, save, and cope with risk. Our eye is on contract designs, product innovations, regulatory policy, and ultimately economic and social impacts. We relate the innovations and empirical evidence to theoretical ideas, drawing links in particular to new work in behavioral economics and to randomized evaluation methods. Keywords: microfinance; microcredit; microinsurance; credit savings; insurance; behavioral economics; financial intermediation; economic growth; randomized controlled trials (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:devchp:v:5:y:2010:i:c:p:4703-4784 DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-444-52944-2.00009-4 Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Handbook of Development Economics from Elsevier |
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