Microfinance Interest Rates and Client Returns

The interest rates of microfinance institutions (MFIs) are widely criticized, although they are lower than those of many short‐term lenders in ‘developed’ countries. The criticisms are not usually related to the returns on micro‐investments. Little data is available, but earnings from farming seem generally to be below or little above the interest charged for microcredit. Returns from petty trade, a more frequent use of such credit, are well over the price that micro‐borrowers pay for their loans. Microfinance is not a replacement for subsidized farm credit; farming is subsidized, everywhere, and efforts should be made to improve and revive the provision of low‐cost agricultural finance.     

财务视角下营销10问

董事们对不专业且花费了公司大笔资金却没有带来相应回报的营销部门再也无法忍受了。以下10个关键的问题是董事们越来越多地向营销部门提及的。透过看似简单的问答,你能看到财务视角下的营销之道。一场认识吗并?了解我们的主要市答:我们是以满足需求来定义市场的,而非售出的产品。     

Predicting the Monthly and Annual Current Account Balance from Provisional Data*

This paper uses provisional monthly data to predict the one-month-ahead and one-year-ahead current account balance. Single-equation methods are compared to an eight-equation VAR model that utilizes the Box-Tiao (1977) modifications. It is found that the single-equation model of the current account out-performs the system method for the short- term but the positions are reversed for the annual forecast