Mar 23, 2009

Informal Economies and What they Can (and Can’t) Do for the Poor

Mar 06, 2009

Stimulus Funding for Effectiveness Research Worth Following

One part of the Obama administration’s proposed budget provides an example worth following for private philanthropy—investing in effectiveness research. Questions abound in nearly every social area, from education to health to economic development. Behavioral economics is also at work on donors and funders as they make choices about what to invest in. The impulse—as with that cookie—is to earmark money directly for recipients, because the gain seems immediate. But absent any evidence that programs work, it is a false gain. Instead, we should remember to support the research projects that can tell us for sure whether the gain is sustaining or not, and be willing to act on the evidence, even if we don’t like it.

Feb 26, 2009

Mobile Cash Transfers Pose Threat to Banks

In December of last year, a group of banks reportedly lobbied the Kenyan finance minister to audit M-Pesa, a mobile funds transfer service offered by the telecommunications firm Safaricom, in an effort to have the service shut down.

Jan 19, 2009

Questioning the Value of Holistic Approaches

A recent New Yorker article raises the question of whether solutions aimed at solving two social problems—in this case, environmental destruction and urban unemployment—produce better results than would be achieved by tackling both separately.

Dec 17, 2008

The Global Financial Crisis and Philanthropy: Looking Beyond the Immediate

The Bernard Madoff ponzi scheme is just the latest bad news for the philanthropic sector coming out of the global financial crisis. Three recent articles/interviews by Philanthropy Action’s editors published here and elsewhere, look beyond the immediate questions of potentially falling donations to the broader implications

Dec 11, 2008

When Is A Cow Not A Cow?

Dec 03, 2008

Cell-Phone-Assisted Development Gets a Real Boost

A recent study of cell phone use by grain traders in Niger adds evidence that cell phones can have a strongly positive development impact by improving information flow in markets. As a result buyers see lower average prices, while sellers get higher average prices. Nokia’s introduction of a low cost handset and Internet service in India may be one of the most promising development initiatives, public or private, of the late 2000’s. 

Nov 21, 2008

Interview: Roger Frank of Developing World Markets on the Credit Crisis and Microfinance

Attention in the financial markets has been focused on the struggles of developed world institutions. To date, there hasn’t been much coverage of the impact of the financial crisis on microfinance—either on the flow of new capital to microfinance or the impact on MFIs that have borrowed money in hard currency while making loans in local currencies. Roger Frank is a partner at Developing World Markets, an investment banking and asset management firm specializing in microfinance, and has a front-row seat as the credit crisis increasingly impacts emerging market countries and microfinance. Roger spoke with Philanthropy Action recently about how the credit crisis is affecting investors and MFIs.

Nov 12, 2008

Financial Access and What the Poor Really Want

Campaigners for financial inclusion for the poor may be barking up the wrong tree by criticizing high-fees charged by informal financial services. Evidence suggests that fees charged by formal institutions are often higher in practice than in theory and are difficult to understand. Users of the informal services also seem to place a much higher importance on convenience than on cost. Lowering and simplifying fees and making services from formal institutions more convenient may have a much larger impact than fighting payday lenders.

Nov 03, 2008

Can Food Solve Everything?

Given the high-stakes now attached to agriculture in the form of both food inflation and global warming, China’s evolving agricultural policy will prove to be as crucial to the globe as America’s broken system has been over the last 25 years.