Interest Bearing Notes


Interest Bearing Notes is a product of the Finance and Private Sector Research Team in the World Bank's Development Research Group. It reports on research by the Team, as well as non-World Bank research, conferences, related websites, new data sets, and other research and policy-oriented news. Please send comments and suggestions to ibnnewsletter@worldbank.org

 

October 2024 PDF

What's new on our website

Crypto-assets: Unfit for central bank reserves today

World Bank research

Long-term and lasting impacts of personal initiative training on entrepreneurial success
How well did real-time indicators track household welfare changes in developing countries during the COVID-19 crisis?

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

Public policies for private finance
Small firm investment under uncertainty: The role of equity finance
The controlled choice design and private paternalism in pawnshop borrowing

Upcoming events and miscellanea

Call for papers: 12th Annual Conference on Financial Market Regulation
Call for papers: 2025 WEFIDEV - RFS - CEPR Conference

 
August 2024  PDF

What's new on our website

Unleashing the power of the private sector in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) 

World Bank research

Mobilizing private capital for the sustainable development goals
Debt relief for households in developing economies 
The role of financial (mis)allocation on real (mis)allocation: Firm-level evidence for European Countries
The influence of COVID-19 on young women’s labor market aspirations and expectations in India 

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

EXIM’s exit: The real effects of trade financing by export credit agencies 
Instant loans can lift subjective well-being: A randomized evaluation of digital credit in Nigeria 

Upcoming events and miscellanea

Call for papers: Annual Central Bank Conference on Development Economics in the Middle East and North Africa 
Call for papers: HEC Paris Entrepreneurship Workshop 

 
June 2024 PDF

What's new on our website

Opportunities for financial inclusion in Africa – Data from the Global Findex

World Bank research

Closing the gaps: The role of screening questions and self-reporting in measuring women’s and youths’ employment and work
Did the 2022 global energy crisis accelerate the diffusion of low-carbon technologies?
How do firms respond to insecurity? Evidence from Afghan corporate phone records

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

The effects of business school education on manager career outcomes
Automating short-term payroll savings: Evidence from two large U.K. experiments
Loan maturity and borrower effort: Evidence from small businesses in financial distress

Upcoming events and miscellanea

Call for papers: 2024 Financial Stability Conference
Call for papers: Santiago Finance Workshop 2024
Call for papers: Accelerating Growth for Women-led SMEs
Call for papers: CEAR-CenFIS Conference

 
February 2024 PDF

What's new on our website

Micro-industrial policy: The empirical evidence on whether governments can successfully directly support firms

World Bank research

Banking in Africa: Opportunities and challenges in volatile times
Government support and firm performance during COVID-19
Firms and climate change in low- and middle-income countries

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

Sustainable banking
Blended finance and female entrepreneurship
The uneven impact of generative AI on entrepreneurial performance

Upcoming events and miscellanea

Call for papers: The 9th Annual Cambridge Conference on Alternative Finance
Call for papers: 2024 Community Banking Research Conference
Call for papers: 20th Annual African Finance Association Conference

 
December 2023 PDF

What's new on our website

Fragmented markets and the proliferation of small firms: Evidence from mom-and-pop shops in Mexico

World Bank research

Digital payments and the COVID-19 shock: The role of preexisting conditions in banking, infrastructure, human capabilities, and digital regulation
Job training and job search assistance policies in developing countries

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

Appropriate entrepreneurship? The rise of Chinese venture capital and the developing world 
Front-line courts as state capacity: Evidence from India
Returns to capital for whom? Experimental Evidence from small firm owners and workers in Ghana
Using lotteries to attract deposits

Upcoming events and miscellanea

Call for papers: 13th MoFiR Workshop on Banking
Call for papers: CEPR Ninth European Workshop on Household Finance
Call for papers: The Seventeenth New York Fed / NYU Stern Conference on Financial Intermediation

October 2023 PDF

What's new on our website

Government banks and interventions in credit markets

World Bank research

Anticipation, disappointment, and adaptation
Training microentrepreneurs over Zoom: Experimental evidence from Mexico
Reducing carbon using regulatory and financial market tools
Savings facilitation or capital injection? Impacts of livelihood interventions in post-conflict Côte d’Ivoire

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

Self-employment within the firm 
Information frictions and take-up of government credit programs

Upcoming events and miscellanea

VoxDevLit on Training Entrepreneurs: Issue 3
Call for papers: 2024 Research Conference on Bank Regulation – Lessons from 2022 and 2023
Call for papers: Inaugural Fintech and Financial Institutions Research Conference
Call for papers: 6th Future of Financial Information Conference

August 2023 PDF

What's new on our website

Does sustainable finance regulation play a role in the “greening” of capital markets?

World Bank research

The internationalization of China’s equity markets
How Prevalent Are Credit-Constrained Firms in the Formal Private Sector? Evidence Using Global Surveys
Experimental Evaluation of a Financial Education Program in Elementary and Middle School Grades

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

The Effect of Macroeconomic Uncertainty on Firm Decisions
Banks’ Physical Footprint and Financial Technology Adoption
Consumer Surplus of Alternative Payment Methods

Upcoming events and miscellanea

Call for papers: 2nd Bonn/Mannheim Workshop on Digital Finance 
Call for papers: HEC Paris Entrepreneurship Workshop
Conference: 2023 WAIFS Symposium 

June 2023 PDF

What's new on our website

Maintaining momentum of financial inclusion through digital adoption in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) 

World Bank research

Trade credit: Theory and evidence for emerging economies and developing countries
Effective tax rates and firm size 
Asset transfers and anti-poverty programs: Experimental evidence from Tanzania

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

Surviving competition: Neighborhood shops vs. convenience chains
Searching for approval
Finance and Climate Resilience

Upcoming events and miscellanea

Call for Papers: Santiago Finance Workshop 
Call for Papers: Conference on Financing Women-led SMEs 
Call for Papers: Conference on Climate and Energy Finance 
Call for Papers: Workshop on Interest Rate Variability and the Financial Sector 

August 2022 PDF

What's new on our website

Extreme temperatures and firms' loan defaults in Mexico

World Bank research

The long-term impact of high school financial education: Evidence from Brazil
Why aren’t more people moving within and from developing countries?
The evolution and drivers of crypto-assets activity around the world

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

Training, communications patterns, and spillovers inside organizations
China’s financial system and economy: A review
The returns to face-to-face interactions: Knowledge spillovers in Silicon Valley
Estimating the social tax in risk-sharing networks

Upcoming events and miscellanea

Call for papers: Entrepreneurship, Finance and Innovation Symposium
Call for papers: 2023 Midwest Finance Association Annual Meeting
Call for papers: RES 2023 Annual Conference

June 2022 PDF

What's new on our website

Fintech and the future of finance

World Bank research

Globally engaged firms in the COVID-19 crisis
How urban land titling and registry reform affect land and credit markets
Talk or text? Evaluating response rates by remote survey method during COVID-19
Globalization and factor income taxation

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

Barriers to public pension program participation in a developing country
Cognitive endurance as human capital
Culture and the gender pay gap among corporate executives

Upcoming events and miscellanea

Call For Papers: CEMLA/Dallas Fed Financial Stability Workshop
Call For Papers: NEUDC 2022 Conference
Call For Papers: 2022 Paris Financial Management Conference

April 2022 PDF

What's new on our website

Policy Research Talk: Data from secondary markets: Insights and Implications for developments

World Bank research

Firm resources, strategies, and survival and growth during COVID-19
Targeting in tax compliance interventions: Experimental evidence from Honduras
A gender employment gap index with an application to the Pacific Islands

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

Indirect effects of access to finance
Invisible primes: Fintech lending with alternative data
Overdraft fees: The link between the traditional and alternative financial systems
What does economic theory say about popular financial advice?
Official and excess COVID-19 mortality

Upcoming events and miscellanea

Call for papers: Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics 2022 – Recovery, Reform, and Business Environment
Call for papers: MIT GCFP 9th Annual Conference on “Building and Regulating the New Financial Infrastructure”
Call for papers: 11th EBA Policy Research Workshop on “Technological Innovation, Climate Finance and Banking Regulation”

February 2022 PDF

What's new on our website

Removing the fine print: Standardization, disclosure, and consumer loan outcomes

World Bank research

Bureaucrats, Tournament Competition, and Performance Manipulation: Evidence from Chinese Cities
Can Business Grants Mitigate a Crisis Evidence from Youth Entrepreneurs in Kenya during COVID-19
The Distribution of Crisis Credit : Effects on Firm Indebtedness and Aggregate Risk
Becoming Legible to the State : The Role of Detection and Enforcement Capacity in Tax Compliance

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

Impact evaluation of microenterprise business grants vs. unconditional cash transfers
War, inequality and the social contract in Britain
Learning from senior colleagues early in your career
The impact of manager’s attention

Upcoming events and miscellanea

Call for papers: Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics 2022 – Recovery, Reform,
and Business Environment
Call for papers: World Finance Conference
Call for papers: Community Banking in the 21st Century Research and Policy Conference

December 2021 PDF

What's new on our website

How financial market development can encourage innovation activity

World Bank research

Competition and firm recovery post-COVID-19
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women-led businesses
The promise and limitations of information technology for tax mobilization

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

Unlocking the benefits of credit through savings
A “cooling off” period in the disbursement of digital loans improves repayment
Most payday borrowers correctly predict the likelihood of future borrowing but would pay to avoid it
Policy experimentation and learning in China
Economic interests, worldviews, and identities

Upcoming events and miscellanea

Call for papers: European Financial Management Association 2022 Annual Meeting
Call for papers: The 29th Annual Global Finance Conference

October 2021 PDF

What's new on our website

Targeting tax enforcement efforts on larger firms: A necessary distortion?

World Bank research

The anatomy of index rebalancings: Evidence from transaction data
Changing-perceptions of institutions and standard of living in Iraq
Testing classic theories of migration in the lab

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

Big loans to small businesses: Predicting winners and losers in an entrepreneurial lending experiment
Closing the profit gender gap
Loan officers impede graduation from microfinance: Strategic disclosure in a large microfinance institution
The long-term effects of industrial policies in Korea
Bureaucracy and development

Upcoming events and miscellanea

2022 University of Oklahoma Energy and Climate Finance Research Conference
9th Annual Conference on Financial Market Regulation (CFMR 2022)

August 2021

PDF

 

What's new on our website

Female-owned firms during the COVID-19 crisis

World Bank research

Efficient irrigation and water conservation: Evidence from South India
Warlords, state failures, and the rise of communism in China
Improving tax compliance without increasing revenue: Evidence from population-wide randomized controlled trials in Papua New Guinea
Long-run effects of trade liberalization on local labor markets: Evidence from South Africa

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

Africa's manufacturing puzzle: Evidence from Tanzanian and Ethiopian firms
Digital collateral
Fintech and the digital transformation of financial services
The making of social democracy

Upcoming events and miscellanea

Norges Bank-CEPR Workshop "Frontier Research in Banking"
2022 Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Conference and Trends in Entrepreneurship Report

June 2021 PDF

What's new on our website

Why did some countries’ workforces fare better than others in the early pandemic?

World Bank research

Expansionary austerity: Reallocating credit amid fiscal consolidation
Estimating the gains from international diversification: The case of pension funds 
Organizational resources, country institutions, and national culture behind firm survival and growth during COVID-19 
How has COVID-19 affected the intention to migrate via the backway to Europe? 
Do workfare programs live up to their promises? Experimental evidence from Côte d’Ivoire

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

Multinationals, monopsony, and local development: Evidence from the United Fruit Company 
Making entrepreneurs: Returns to training youth in hard versus soft business skills 
The political economy of state employment and instability in China

Upcoming events and miscellanea

VoxDevLit on microfinance 
Call for papers: How is the COVID-19 experience changing finance? 
Call for papers: Special Issue on “Scaling up the fintech business: competition, regulation & data management.”

April 2021 PDF

What's new on our website

From micro to macro: Entry barriers, misallocation, and aggregate productivity

World Bank research

Aspirations and financial decisions: Experimental evidence from the Philippines 
What prevents more small firms from using professional business services? 
The unintended consequences of deportations: Evidence from firm behavior in El Salvador 
Pathways out of extreme poverty: Tackling psychosocial and capital constraints with a multi-faceted social protection program in Niger

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

Identifying reform priorities: The role of non-linearities 
Managerial and financial barriers to investment in green technologies 
Africa’s latent assets 
Rugged entrepreneurs

Upcoming events and miscellanea 

Call for papers: 20th Annual Bank Research Conference (FDIC) 
Call for papers: Community Banking in the 21st Century Research and Policy Conference 2021
Call for papers: 2021 Jacques Polak Annual Research Conference 
Special issue - Journal of Banking and Finance: The impact of global pandemic on financial markets and institutions

February 2021

PDF

What's new on our website

A novel approach to support firms

World Bank research

Improving business practices and the boundary of the entrepreneur 
Learning to navigate a new financial technology: Evidence from payroll accounts 
Macroeconomic expectations and credit card spending 
Opening-up and economic recovery after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic 
Bilateral international investments: The Big Sur?

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

Asset-based microfinance for microenterprises: Evidence from Pakistan 
Political parties as drivers of U.S. polarization 
History’s masters: The effect of European monarchs on state performance 

Upcoming events and miscellanea 

Call for Papers: Corporations and Covid-19 
Call for papers: New Perspectives on Consumer Behavior in Credit and Payments Markets Conference

2020 Newsletters

December 2020 PDF

What's new on our website

Bank lending for inclusive growth: Incentives matter (Policy Research Talk)

World Bank research

The role of gender in agent banking: Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo
Financial constraints and fraud victimization in China
The interpLay of policy, institutions, and culture during COVID-19
Estimating the demand for business training: Evidence from Jamaica
The impact of COVID-19 on formal firms: Micro tax data simulations across countries

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

Is mobile money changing rural Africa? Evidence from a field experiment
Shaming microloan delinquents: Evidence from a field experiment in China
Financial fragility and COVID-19

Upcoming events and miscellanea

VoxDevLit on Training Entrepreneurs
Call for papers: NBER-RFS Inequality, Discrimination, and the Financial System Virtual Conference
Call for papers: 2021 Sixth Biennial IADI Research Conference "Navigating the New Normal for Financial Stability, Deposit Insurance and Bank Resolution"

October 2020 PDF

What's new on our website

- Empowering farmers to adopt agricultural recommendations 

World Bank research

- Reassessing the evidence for 'Small business training doesn't work' 
- Banking sector performance during the COVID-19 crisis 
- Cross-border banking in EMDEs: Trends, scale, and policy implications 
- Growth of global corporate debt: Main facts and policy challenges 

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- Teaching labor laws: Evidence from a randomized control trial in South Africa
- Informational barriers to market access: Experimental evidence from Liberian firms 
- War, socialism and the rise of fascism 
- Concessions, violence and indirect rule: Evidence from the Congo Free State 

Upcoming events and miscellanea

- Call for papers: 2021 Research Conference on Bank Regulation "Lessons from COVID-19"
- Call for Papers: ECB-RFS Macro-Finance Conference

August 2020 PDF

What's new on our website

- Channeling capital flows to developing countries: Can international financial institutions help?
Video and event materials

World Bank research

- Capital market financing and firm growth
- Who on earth can work from home?
- Winners and losers from COVID-19: Global evidence from Google search
- Informality, consumption taxes and redistributionOur eclectic guide to recent research of interest

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- Liquidity creation by banks, investment, and growth
- Did the Paycheck Protection Program preserve employment during the COVID-19 crisis?
- Populism and social capital 
- Political power, elite control, and long-term development: Evidence from Brazil

Upcoming events and miscellanea

- Financial Stability and the Coronavirus Pandemic
- The Way Forward for Banks during the Covid-19 Crisis and Beyond

June 2020 PDF

What's new on our website

- Which jobs are most vulnerable to COVID-19?

World Bank research

- The transformative effects of privatization in China
- Female business leaders, the business and cultural environment, and productivity
- Winners and losers when private banks distribute government loans
- Remote-learning, time-use, and mental health of Ecuadorian high-school students during the COVID-19 quarantine
- Financing firms in hibernation during the COVID-19 pandemic 
- Measuring employment: Experimental evidence from urban Ghana

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

COVID-19 and the future of microfinance: Evidence and insights from Pakistan
- Resisting social pressure in the household using mobile money

Upcoming events and miscellanea

- Conference on Political Economy of Finance 2020 - Should Corporations Have a Social Purpose?
- Special Issue "Financial Literacy and Financial Education"
- Call for papers: Special issue on Fintech’s Impact on Payments
- Call for papers: World Finance & Banking Symposium

April 2020

 

PDF

What's new on our website

- Development policy and COVID-19 eSeminar series: Policies for small and informal firms

World Bank research

- China’s business environment and dual-track private sector development  
- Owe a bank millions, the bank has a problem: Credit concentration in bad times 
- Global corporate debt during crises: Implications of switching borrowing across markets

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- The impact of R&D tax credits on the quantity and quality of entrepreneurship 
- Social distancing, internet access, and inequality 
- Fintech and household resilience to shocks: Evidence from digital loans in Kenya 
- Market access, trade costs, and technology adoption: Evidence from Northern Tanzania 
- The weak state trap 

Upcoming events and miscellanea

- Database on COVID-19 finance sector related policy responses 
- Macro-financial aspects of climate change 
- Call for papers: Financial Stability and the Coronavirus Pandemic

February 2020 PDF

What's new on our website

- Using big data to expand financial services

World Bank research

- Bank capital and risk in Europe and Central Asia ten years after the crisis
- Analyzing financial risk management in agriculture with Findex data
- Toward successful development policies: Insights from research in development economics 
- Heterogeneous effects of the de jure and de facto business environment
- Foreign direct investment and female entrepreneurship

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- Do capital grants improve microenterprise productivity?
- Do workers discriminate against female bosses?
- Women’s promotions and intra-household bargaining: Evidence from Bangladesh

Upcoming events and miscellanea

- Digital money: Implications for emerging market and developing economies
- Eighth Annual Community Banking Research and Policy Conference
- FDIC/JFSR 20th Annual Bank Research Conference
- The Third Toronto Fintech Conference

2019 Newsletters

December 2019 PDF

What's new on our website

- Global Financial Development Report 2019/2020

World Bank research

- Bank regulation and supervision ten years after the global financial crisis 
- Free riding in loan approvals: Evidence from SME lending in Peru
- Property rights, political connections, and corporate investment 

Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- Improving inventory management for mobile money agents
- Does household electrification supercharge economic development?
- The value of communication: Evidence from a field experiment with entrepreneurs in Togo
- Learning management through matching: A field experiment using mechanism design
- The old boys’ club: Schmoozing and the gender gap

Upcoming events and miscellanea

- Calls for from the 10th International Conference of the Financial Engineering and Banking Society
- 2020 German Economic Association Conference on Development Economics and Policy
- 2020 Baltimore Area Finance Conference

October 2019  PDF

What’s new on our website

- Shortening supply chains for fruit and vegetable vendors in Bogota

World Bank research

- Self-employment and migration
- Targeting inputs: Experimental evidence from Tanzania
- Is short-term debt a substitute or a complement to good governance?
- The large-firm wage premium in developing economies

“FYI”: Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- Gender discrimination in small business lending
- Rule of law and female entrepreneurship
- Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1885-2008
- State-owned enterprises and entry barriers

Upcoming Events and Miscellanea

- 2nd Bank of Italy and Bocconi University Conference on Financial Stability and Regulation
- 2020 Georgia State-RFS FinTech Conference

August 2019 PDF

What’s new on our website

- Financial innovation and additionality 

World Bank research

- The impact of mobile money on poor rural households: Experimental evidence from Uganda
- Learning to grow from peers: Experimental evidence from small retailers in Indonesia
- Beyond the S-curve: Insurance penetration, institutional quality and financial market development
- Searching for yield among large international corporate bonds

“FYI”: Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- The impact of soft-skills training for entrepreneurs in Jamaica
- Fertility and modernity
- Property rights protection and capital structure
- The disruptive power of RCTs

Upcoming Events and Miscellanea

Call for papers

June 2019 PDF

What’s new on our website

- Improving management in Colombian firms through individual and group consulting

World Bank research

- Micro-equity for microenterprisesDoes automation in rich countries hurt developing ones? The rise of domestic capital markets for corporate financing
- Measuring the unmeasured: Combining technology and behavioral insights to improve measurement of business outcomes
- Factional competition, local accountability, and long-term development

“FYI”: Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- Networking frictions in venture capital, and the gender gap in entrepreneurship
- Communication within banking organizations and small business lending
- Microenterprises and the lure of wage work: Theory and evidence from Mexican export manufacturing
- Financial crisis and the spread of fascism

Upcoming Events and Miscellanea

Call for papers

 March 2019 PDF

What’s new on our website

- Robo-advisors: Investing through machines

World Bank research

- Active trading and (poor) performance: The social transmission channel
- Does automation in rich countries hurt developing ones? Evidence from the U.S. and Mexico

“FYI”: Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- The effects of higher bank capital requirements on credit in Peru
- Identifying and spurring “gazelles”: Evidence from a business accelerator
- Finance and mental health
- Do privatized state-owned enterprises behave like private firms or state-owned enterprises?
- Market access, trade costs, and technology adoption: Evidence from northern Tanzania
- Impact of financial regulations: Insights from an online repository of studies

Upcoming Events and Miscellanea

Call for papers

 January 2019 PDF

What’s new on our website

- Can bank capital substitute for supervision and oversight?

World Bank research

- Helping firms realize the benefits of (partial) formalization
- Gross capital flows by banks, corporates, and sovereigns 
- Not(ch) your average tax system: Corporate taxation under weak enforcement
- The long-term impact of the Taiping Rebellion

“FYI”: Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- Spillover effects of a debit card rollout in Mexico
- Move a little closer? Information sharing and the spatial clustering of bank branches
- The creation and evolution of entrepreneurial public markets
- Social proximity and bureaucratic performance

Upcoming Events and Miscellanea

Calls for papers

2018 Newsletters (PDF)

November 2018 Vol 21 No 6

What’s new on our website

- Ten years after Lehman: Where are we now?

World Bank research

- Courts and business registration: Evidence from Serbia
- The causal mechanism of financial education: Evidence from mediation analysis
- Endowment effects and usage of financial products: Field evidence from Malawi
- Bank runs and moral hazard: A review of deposit insurance

“FYI”: Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- The employment effects of faster payment: Evidence from the federal Quickpay reform
- Roots and consequences of masculinity norms
- The medieval roots of inclusive institutions
- Government R&D subsidies and innovation: Evidence from China

Upcoming Events and Miscellanea

Calls for papers

September 2018 Vol 21 No 5

What’s new on our website

- What drives the costs of financial intermediation around the world?

World Bank research

- Can government intervention make firms more investment-ready?
- Who are America's star firms?
- Decentralized delivery of financial education: Evidence from a country-wide field experiment 
- Productivity shocks and repayment behavior in rural credit markets: A framed field experiment

“FYI”: Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- When does advice impact startup performance?
- Financial development and industrial pollution
- Elites in authoritarian countries
- Sexism and American women: The role of norms versus discrimination

Upcoming Events and Miscellanea

Conference announcements

July 2018 Vol 21 No 4

What’s new on our website

- Do consulting services promote small and medium enterprise growth?

World Bank research

- The impact of technical assistance for rural credit unions in Mexico
- The speed of justice
- Technology, taxation, and corruption: Evidence from the introduction of electronic tax filing

“FYI”: Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- Can state-owned bank lending raise the incomes of the poor? Evidence from Brazil
- Understanding the decline in group lending by MFIs
- Microcredit contracts, risk diversification and loan take-up
- A theory of equality before the law
- Inter-city competition, industrial revolution, and the big divergence

Upcoming Events and Miscellanea

Calls for papers

May 2018 Vol 21 No 3

What’s new on our website

- Banking with agents: Experimental evidence from Senegal

World Bank research

- The effects of cash transfers on adult labor market outcomes
- Unemployment and violent extremism: Evidence from Daesh foreign recruits 
- The impact of interest rate caps on the financial sector: Evidence from Kenya
- The importance of business aspirations among small-scale entrepreneurs in Indonesia
- Capital inflows, equity issuance activity, and corporate investment 
- Spillover effects of the G20 financial reforms

“FYI”: Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- The full implications of political connections
- Distrust, economic downturns, and political turnover

Upcoming Events and Miscellanea

Calls for papers

March 2018

Vol 21 No 2

What’s new on our website

- Do management interventions last?

World Bank research

- Man vs. machine in predicting successful entrepreneurs
- Bank ownership: Trends and implications
- Are international banks different? Evidence on bank performance and strategy
- Measuring the effectiveness of government service delivery: Evidence from India
- Social mobilization, health service delivery, and health outcomes in rural Pakistan

"FYI": Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- Mobile phone usage data predicts loan repayment
- Resources, conflict and development in Africa
 - Women outcompeting men in the market for high-skilled labor

January 2018

Vol 21 No 1

What's new on our website

- Failing to disclose information to consumers about financial products

World Bank research

- Are psychometric tools a viable screening method for small and medium-size enterprise lending?
- Microfinance and economic development|
- Corporate debt maturity in developing countries
- SME finance
- Mission and the bottom line: performance incentives in a multi-goal organization

"FYI": Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- Which features of formal jobs do workers value most?
- Weak states and the Mafia
- The development effects of the extractive colonial economy

Last Updated: May 10, 2022


2017 Newsletters (PDF)

November 2017

Vol 20 No 6

What's new on our website

- Global Financial Development Report 2017/2018: Bankers without Borders

World Bank research

- Small firm death in developing countries
- Learning the impact of financial education when take-up is low
- Making it easier to apply for a bank account
- Financial development, growth, and crisis: Is there a trade-off?

"FYI": Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- Can subsidized early child care promote women's employment? Evidence from Kenya
- Religious competition and resource reallocation
- Capital accumulation, private property and rising inequality in China, 1978-2015
- Price floors and employer preferences: Evidence from a minimum wage experiment

September 2017

Vol 20 No 5

What's new on our website

- Understanding financial education: What works, what doesn't, and what's next?

World Bank research

- Job fairs: Matching firms and workers in a field experiment in Ethiopia
- Switching regulation and long-term investment by pension funds
- Complex software and job growth by occupation and skill

"FYI": Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- Benefits and risks of self-employment vs. low-skill manufacturing jobs
- Information, demand, and the growth of firms: Evidence from a natural experiment in India
- Interfirm relationships and business performance
- Deposit insurance and monitoring: Evidence from the creation of the FDIC
- Social structure and civil wars in sub-Saharan Africa

July 2017

Vol 20 No 4

What's new on our website

- Expectations and reality collide in active labor market policies

World Bank research

- Financial inclusion and inclusive growth: A review of the evidence
- Status goods: Experimental evidence from platinum credit cards
- The heterogeneous effects of the business environment on growth
- Do individual investors ignore transaction costs?
- Relief from usury? The impact of microcredit in rural India

"FYI": Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- Internal capital markets in times of crisis
- Hot weather, finance, and mortality in India

June 2017

Vol 20 No 3

What's new on our website

- New evidence shows way forward for SME growth and job creation

World Bank research

- Can grants to consortia spur innovation and science-industry collaboration?
- Do foreign investors underperform? Evidence from Colombia
- A firm of one's own: Experimental evidence on credit constraints and occupational choice

"FYI": Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- Understanding the success and failure of new stock markets
- Liquid milk: Cash constraints and day-to-day intertemporal choice in financial diaries
- Can setting default options increase savings in developing countries and if yes, why?
- Decentralized firms handle adversity better
- Queens and war

May 2017

Vol 20 No 2

What’s new on our website

- Effective business training for Kenyan women

World Bank research

- Experimental evidence on the return to additional labor in microenterprises
- Agent banking in the Democratic Republic of Congo
- Financial information in Colombia- Foreign banks and trade: Bridging the information gap?

“FYI”: Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- How to enhance the effect of basic business training on sales and profits?
- Soft skills to pay the bills: Evidence from female garment workers
- Why do firms invest in research?
- The rise of American ingenuity

January 2017

Vol 20 No 1

What’s new on our website

- Two-part blog on usage of digital finance

World Bank research

- Foreign banks and international transmission of monetary policy
- International financial integration in East Asia and the Pacific
- Can enhancing the benefits of formalization induce informal firms to become formal?
- Are labor supply decisions consistent with neoclassical preferences?

“FYI”: Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest

- Using community information to identify high ability entrepreneurs
- Exporting and firm performance: Evidence from a randomized experiment
- Informal firms and Tanzania’s economic transformation
- The natural resource curse and Japan’s successful first industrialization

 


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2016 Newsletters (PDF)

November 2016

Vol 19 No 6

What’s new on our website

- New blog series on financial inclusion and the sustainable development goals

World Bank research
- Social capital, finance, and household consumption in China
- Savings defaults and payment delays for cash transfers: Evidence from Malawi
- The maturity of corporate borrowing across the globe
- Can email messages help to increase tax revenue from non-filing firms?

“FYI”: Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest
- Can peer group meetings and peer text messages increase savings?
- Seeding the S-curve? The role of early adopters in diffusion
- Intellectual property rights matter for innovation, even in China
- The long shadow of a botched fiscal expansion

September 2016

Vol 19 No 5

What's new on our website

- Improving the impact of financial education

World Bank research
- The role of subsidy in the microfinance business model
- Pathways to profits: Identifying separate channels of small firm growth through business training
- Markets, contracts, and uncertainty in a groundwater economy
- Firm financing and growth in the Arab region

"FYI": Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest
- Banking the unbanked? Evidence from three countries
- Does mentoring improve business performance? Evidence from Kenya
- The economic impact of universities around the world
- CEO personality and corporate decision making

July 2016

Vol 19 No 4

What’s new on our website

- Have RCTs taken over development economics?

World Bank research
- The effect of business groups on trading activity
- Saving for old age
- Financial (dis-)information: evidence from a multi-country audit study

“FYI”: Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest
- Using commercial bank data to estimate tax evasion in Greece
- On the impact of corporate taxes on employment and income
- Regulation and structural change in financial systems
- How best to win hearts and minds?
- Tourism and economic development

May 2016

Vol 19 No 3

What’s new on our website

- Financial inclusion and the Sustainable Development Goals

World Bank research
- Finding a path to formalization of micro and small firms in Benin
- Can business owners form accurate counterfactuals?
- Mission drift in microfinance- A meta-analysis on the impact of business support services on firm performance

“FYI”: Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest
- Recent developments in global banking- Foreign bank entry and entrepreneurship
- Apprenticeship and growth in pre-industrial economies
- Social capital and the resilience of the financial system

March 2016

Vol 19 No 2

What’s new on our website

- On seemingly significant experimental results

World Bank research
- Can wage subsidies boost employment in the wake of an economic crisis?
- The political economy of bank lending: Evidence from an emerging market
- Access to finance and job growth: Firm-level evidence across developing countries

“FYI”: Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest
- When does foreign bank participation improve the supply of credit?- Nudging youth to develop savings habits: Experimental evidence using SMS messages
- Do tax incentives for research & development increase firm innovation?
- What is different about urbanization in rich and poor countries?- University innovation and the professor’s privilege

January 2016

Vol 19 No 1

What’s new on our website

- The Global Findex data and saving for rainy day

World Bank research
- The long-term impacts of international migration: Evidence from a lottery
- The impact of the global financial crisis on firms' capital structure
- How does long-term finance affect economic volatility?
- Psychometrics as a tool to improve screening and access to credit

“FYI”: Our eclectic guide to recent research of interest
- Learning entrepreneurship from other entrepreneurs?
- Where has all the skewness in U.S. productivity growth gone?
- Liquidity regulation and unintended financial transformation in China
- The globalization of angel investments: Evidence across countries
- Putting China’s growth slowdown in perspective

 



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