A well-functioning financial system and a vigorous private sector are important drivers of growth and poverty reduction. Finance is central to private sector development and vice versa, and large parts of both sub-disciplines revolve around the behavior and performance of firms. Please see Finance and PSD for some of the policy messages that came out of our recent research and future directions. More... Research Highlights 2007  |  |  | Microfinance Meets the Market When Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, the world community celebrated the ways that expanding financial access can improve the lives of the poor. A new paper clarifies what's at stake when the worlds of non-profit microfinance and commercial banking intersect.
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|  | Finance for All? Policies and Pitfalls in Expanding Access November 13, 2007 The report takes stock of our current knowledge in the area of access to financial services. It presents indicators to measure access to finance, analyzes its determinants, and evaluates its impact on growth, equity and poverty reduction, drawing on research utilizing data both at the firm and household level. It discusses the role of government in advancing financial inclusion and concludes with policy implications and a research agenda for future work. |  | The impact of good, bad, and ugly colonial activities, uncertainties about instrumental variables, not-so-middle-class entrepreneurs, changing bank regulation and supervision, and much more..." Website |  | Conference on Risk Analysis and Management We are organizing a conference on risk analysis and management, jointly with the IMF, on October 2-3, 2008. We will also edit a special issue of the Journal of Banking and Finance on the same topic. The deadline for submission to this special issue is July 31.
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For more information, contact Asli Demirgüç-Kunt |