Nov 27, 2008

What Else Is Embedded In Embedded Giving?

It may seem to clash with the spirit of the holidays to ask probing questions about any form of charitable giving. Yet there are a number of problems with embedded giving that are not immediately obvious.

Nov 17, 2008

Intervention that Works

Nov 14, 2008

The Credit Crunch and its Impact on MFIs

Very little has been written about the impact the current global financial crisis is having on microfinance, neither from the perspective of the MFIs nor that of their clients.

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.