Economic Analysis of Microfinance： Evidence from China

China＇s evolutionary reform brought China economy enormous progress, which also subsided the poverty phenomenon. But the present anti-poverty task is still very arduous for China today. Peasant household＇s microfinance is a kind of important tool which contributes to the poverty alleviation. The sustainable development of microfinance has become a serous problem at present. This text analyses the sustainable development of microfinance through setting up the income model of microfinance, then puts forward the way to solve.     

Empirical of the Taiwan stock index option price forecasting model – applied artificial neural network

This work presents a novel neural network model for forecasting option prices using past volatilities and other options market factors. Out of different approaches to estimating volatility in the option pricing model, this study uses backpropagation neural network to forecast prices for Taiwanese stock index options. The ability to develop accurate forecasts of grey prediction volatility enables practitioners to establish an appropriate hedging strategy at in-the-money option.     

Mission drift in microfinance: are the concerns really worrying? Recent cross-country results

This paper explores the impact of profitability on depth of outreach in microfinance institutions, a trade-off between which is commonly known as ‘mission drift', using a unique panel database containing 4–6 years' observations from 409 MFIs in 71 countries. The concerns for ‘mission drift' seemed invalid, although several countervailing results also emerged when scaling up indicators of size and age are included. The positive significant association between MFI-size and average loan amount suggests some extent of mission drift. Similar results were found when female borrowers' participation was the measure for outreach. However, the study largely fails to validate that the concerns for mission drift were true if it is defined as a distinctive trade-off between increased profit-motivation and depth of outreach of MFIs.     

Do women borrowers augment financial performance of MFIs?

There is some consensus that depth of outreach and financial performance of Microfinance Institutions (MFI) are positively correlated. A majority of microcredit borrowers are women and since the prevalence of female borrowers is even greater among the very poor, there should be a positive correlation between female borrowers and financial performance. Most of the MFIs target women as preferred borrowers. However, no study to date has investigated the relationship between targeting women and MFI’s sustainability with respect to profitability and yield. Utilizing a panel of 892 MFIs over a period of 10 years, this study shows that increased proportion of women borrowers has a statistically significant positive impact on yield and financial performance of MFIs. Consequently, this article also analyses the implication as to whether female borrowers have better repayment rate than male borrowers.     

Do microfinance institutions benefit from integrating financial and nonfinancial services?

This article examines the impact of microfinance ‘plus’ (i.e. coordinated combination of financial and nonfinancial services) on the performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs). Using a global data set of MFIs in 77 countries, we find that the provision of nonfinancial services does not harm nor improve MFIs’ financial sustainability and efficiency. The results however suggest that the provision of social services is associated with improved loan quality and greater depth of outreach.     

Does capital and financing structure have any relevance to the performance of microfinance institutions?

This paper aims to explore the impact of capital and financing structure on the performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) from an agency theoretic standpoint. GMM and IV estimations with instruments have been performed using a panel dataset of 782 MFIs in 92 countries for the period 2000–2007. Results confirm the agency theoretic claim that an increase in leverage raises profit-efficiency in MFIs. The study also finds that cost efficiency deteriorates with decreasing leverage. Likewise, the negative significant impact of leverage on depth of outreach can also be explained. However, the study finds that capital structure does not have any noticeable impact on breadth of outreach and neither is it significantly related with women’s participation as loan clients.     

Where does microfinance flourish? Microfinance institution performance in macroeconomic context

We study whether and how the success of microfinance institutions (“MFI"s) depends on the country-level context, in particular macroeconomic and macro-institutional features. Understanding these linkages can make MFI evaluation more accurate and, further, can help to locate microfinance in the broader picture of economic development. We collect data on 373 MFIs and merge it with country-level economic and institutional data. Evidence arises for complementarity between MFI performance and the broader economy. For example, MFIs are more likely to cover costs when growth is stronger; and MFIs in financially deeper economies have lower default and operating costs, and charge lower interest rates. There is also evidence suggestive of substitutability or rivalry. For example, more manufacturing and higher workforce participation are associated with slower growth in MFI outreach. Overall, the country context appears to be an important determinant of MFI performance; MFI performance should be handicapped for the environment in which it was achieved.     

对发展我国农村小额信贷的思考

金融是现代经济的核心和命脉,同样农村金融也是社会主义新农村建设的核心和命脉[1]。我国的农村小额信贷主要服务与农村地区的弱势群体即被金融机构排除在外的广大农户,虽然我国的小额信贷在现阶段取得了一定的成果,但是其可持续发展仍然存在许多因素的制约,主要有资金供需失衡,小额信贷自身的不足,缺乏有效的风险分担机制等。根据国内外小额信贷成功的事例,我国应采取拓展多元化小额信贷资金来源,加快利率市场化改革等措施来促进我国小额信贷的可持续发展。     

小额金融机构监管须谨防与服务低收入群体冲突

以服务低收入群体为宗旨的小额金融机构(MFI)近年来在中国发展迅速,其监管制度正在探索之中。国际经验表明,接受监管与不接受监管的两类机构在业务深度上存在显著差异。监管似乎抑制了MFI对低收入群体的服务,违背了其创立初衷。充足资本有助于MFI拓展业务深度,是监管可能带来的积极影响。此外,MFI的其他微观控制变量及所在国的宏观背景也会影响其业务深度。中国要防止简单套用传统金融机构的监管体制和方法,谨防业务出现漂移。     

The challenge of rural financial inclusion – evidence from microfinance

Financial inclusion is said to foster development and growth. However, progress in financial inclusion has been slow in rural areas where poverty is most pronounced. This is often attributed to higher transaction costs, higher risks and a more unfavourable contracting environment which makes it more difficult for financial institutions to achieve and maintain sustainability in rural compared to urban areas. Based on data covering 772 microfinance institutions (MFIs) over the period 2008–2013, we test whether rural financial inclusion, notably lending to rural borrowers, is hampered by stronger sustainability challenges than inclusion in urban markets. Our results suggest that a higher share of rural borrowers has no direct effect on MFI sustainability. However, we find that MFIs with a higher share of rural borrowers are less able to exploit economies of scale and productivity effects. Thus, our results provide support for the view that sustainability challenges make it more difficult to achieve progress in financial inclusion in rural than in urban areas.     

中国农村小额信贷宏观效率现状分析

中国农村小额信贷的宏观效率包括小额信贷运作对农村经济发展的作用效率和政府监管农村小额信贷市场的效率,其影响因素主要包括农村地区货币量与农村经济总量比率、农村地区货币结构比率、政府调控农村小额信贷措施的影响力、政府调控农村小额信贷效果与预期目标的偏离程度等。受农村小额信贷运作对农村经济发展的作用效率较低和政府监管农村小额信贷市场的效率较低的影响,目前中国农村小额信贷的宏观效率较低。     

居民对中、外资金融机构的比较评价研究——来自中国九个城市的证据

Between domestic financial institutions and foreign or joint venture ones in China, which ones do Chinese people give better assessment to? And what factors affect those comparative assessments? With a household survey in nine cities in China in 2006, we find that China’s domestic financial institutions are considered better than foreign or joint venture ones in terms of financial products, communication with investors, security and prudence, operation standardization and service attitudes. When taken into account the endogeneity of people’s trust on government regulation agencies, empirical results show that people’s more attention to returns or the more trust on government regulation agencies leads to their better assessments on domestic financial institutions than foreign or joint venture ones. The policy implications are: Chinese governments have to take measures to improve residents’ trust in governmental regulation and create a fair competition environment for domestic and foreign financial institutions in China. Domestic and foreign financial institutions make efforts to develop a higher rate-of-return and attractive financial products to service more customers.     

Microfinance institutions’ transparency in Sub-Saharan Africa

This study analyses the impact of the ownership structure and macro-level factors on Microfinance institutions’ (MFIs) transparency in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Using cross-sectional data from 223 MFIs in 11 countries, we find that MFI transparency in SSA is low and highly variable. Our results indicate that larger MFIs and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are associated with greater transparency. Greater transparency of NGOs is consistent with the need to sustain and attract donor funding. Country-level resources, such as the level of financial sector development, also impact MFI transparency.     

Misaligned Expectations and Non-Cooperative Behavior in Indian Microfinance: Evidence from a Survey

This study examined the causalities of non-performance of self-help groups (SHGs) in the context of polarised institutional expectations in the microfinance ecosystem in India. Institutional approach and stakeholder approach were followed for the investigation. Focus group discussions (FGDs) and semi-structured interviews (SIs) were conducted to collect data from various institutional stakeholders. It was found that the institutional expectations of each institution from other institutions in the microfinance ecosystem were polarized, misaligned and were antagonistic in nature. Institutional behaviours were governed by their expectations from the microfinance ecosystem. Therefore, the polarized and antagonistic expectations created non-cooperative behaviours and attitudes in the key institutions, which further created a weak performance of the microfinance programs.     

All Myth and Ceremony? Examining the Causes and Logic of the Mission Shift in Microfinance from Microenterprise Credit to Financial Inclusion

This contribution assesses the shift in the mission of microfinance from providing small loans for entrepreneurship to the broader agenda of financial inclusion. Three leading organisations' publications inform a discourse analysis, which allows the strategic shift to be analysed using two theoretical frames from organisational sociology: instrumental rationalism and sociological institutionalism. The proclaimed shift in strategy is found to consist less of rational innovation towards the aim of poverty alleviation than of “myth and ceremony” for the sake of organisational self-preservation.     

中国农村小额信贷微观效率现状分析

中国农村小额信贷的微观效率包括小额信贷机构效率和小额信贷市场效率,其影响因素主要包括农村小额信贷机构的经营效率和发展效率、小额信贷市场的运行效率和对农村经济发展的推动效率。受农村小额信贷机构的经营效率和发展效率较低的影响,中国农村小额信贷机构效率较低;受农村小额信贷市场运行效率和推动经济发展效率较低的影响,中国农村小额信贷市场效率较低,从而导致中国目前农村小额信贷的微观效率较低。