普惠保险发展的路径选择及其优化——基于小额保险的国际经验

保险“十三五”规划要求大力发展小额保险等普惠保险,但我国小额保险发展相对滞后,制约着普惠保险的全面发展。本文基于对印度等五国经营小额保险的经验研究,比照我国普惠保险发展实际情况,期望借此破解我国普惠保险发展困局,优化普惠保险发展路径。研究发现:我国普惠保险发展在政府推动力度、法律法规完善程度、政策支持力度及发展模式上均可进一步强化改善。结合国际经验和中国实践,我国普惠保险发展应重视法律法规等正式制度建设,顺应各地风俗文化等非正式制度,出台“小额保险条例”作为普惠保险的配套支持政策,利用合作代理销售模式和科技创新手段,控制普惠保险交易成本,开发符合消费者实际利益的普惠保险险种。     

Microcredit games with noisy signals: Contagion and free-riding

The advent of microcredit financing has remarkably improved access to credit for the poor in many developing countries. Although several microcredit programs have adopted the joint liability scheme, economic theory suggests that joint liability could increase strategic default through contagion and free-riding. This paper aims at studying the extent of free-riding and contagion in joint liability lending. By using data from experimental repayment games conducted in Vietnam, with noisy signals that resemble actual microcredit programs, we found that subjects were motivated to free-ride under the joint liability scheme. While most empirical research in this area has focused on the problem of contagion, our findings point to the significance of investigating free-riding behavior under joint liability schemes. Analyses reveal that the free-riding tendency may be led by the irresponsiveness of repayment and shouldering behavior to the partner’s seemingly strategic default in the previous round.     

The impact of microcredit on self‐employment profits in Vietnam

This study examines the impact of microcredit on household self‐employment profits in Vietnam. For two indicators of credit participation – a dichotomous participation dummy and the accumulated amount of microcredit received per household – the analysis reveals a positive effect on household profits. The analysis also reveals that an instrumental variable method within a fixed‐effects framework can control for the possible endogeneity of credit and thereby identify the true effect of credit.     

Understanding the microenterprise sector to design a tailor-made microfinance policy for Cape Verde

Two of the central challenges faced by Cape Verde at the present are the high level of unemployment and the increasing proportion of the population living in (relative) poverty. Microenterprise development can be an effective means of addressing both problems in a developing country like Cape Verde, where microenterprises account for about 50% of employment. In this paper we provide a detailed profile of Cape Verdean microenterprises and microentrepreneurs and investigate the relationship between their characteristics and the resort to outside seed capital. We find a cluster of factors—the microentrepreneur’s age, gender, level of education and reason for being self-employed—which influence significantly the probability of being in need for external start-up capital. The policy implications of these findings for the design of a specific microfinance program for Cape Verde are discussed.

Informal lending amongst friends and relatives: Can microcredit compete in rural China?

This paper explores the relationship between informal and formal lending in China with consideration of how the strength of informal lending might affect microcredit. Lending relationships involving trust are investigated using original survey data from over 1500 farm households. Econometric results confirm a relationship between trust and informal lending, and mistrust and formal lending. With over 67% of farm households borrowing from friends and relatives the economic significance between this form of informal lending and borrowing from Rural Credit Cooperatives and Micro Finance Institutions cannot be overlooked.     

Microfinance and social capital formation- a social network analysis approach

The microcredit program has emerged as an important poverty alleviation strategy over the last three decades, and several studies have examined its economic impacts on the community well-being. However, far too little attention has been paid to the effects of micro credits on community social connection and solidarity. This paper aims to examine the application of Social Network Analysis (SNA) to explore the impact of the rural microcredit fund on community social capitals. In doing so, the data on interactions of four rural development groups' members before and after the microcredit project implementation were collected using participatory workshops in Neyzar village of Qom province in Iran. The data were analyzed by Ucinet software, and the socio-graphs were produced by the NetDraw application. The results show that, more people have been involved in the social interactions after the project implementation and there was statistically significant increase in density and decrease in centralization of cooperation network. Furthermore, there were no important distinctions in centrality of people with various educational levels before and after the project implementation. Overall, it can be concluded that, the microfinance initiative considerably promotes the community social capital and participation in the rural development activities. Moreover, the SNA techniques are applicable as an impact assessment tool to investigate changes in community social capital.     

History of microfinance in Bangladesh: A life cycle theory approach

This study aims to conceptualise and document the historical evolution of microfinance in Bangladesh using the life cycle theory (LCT). Based on the LCT nomenclature, the microfinance sector in Bangladesh shows characteristics broadly consistent with the saturation phase (2006–2015) – which potentially has adverse impacts on both microfinance clients and institutions. The maturity phase (1996–2005) of microfinance has corresponded with competition and several innovations (financial and non-financial). However, the saturation phase sees increasing presence of uncoordinated microfinance institutions and expansion of multiple borrowing, as well as commercialisation and ‘mission drift’, which constitute important challenges for the regulatory authority and management of microfinance institutions.     

农村金融的根本问题与现实选择

本文以2006-2007年对中国西部和中部12省区的农户调查所反映出的资金流出农村、正规金融机构不能满足农户信贷需求的现象进行了深入的分析,指出我国农村金融的根本问题是解决农村经济发展所需的资金问题.而在我国现阶段,农村正规金融机构"离农"有其必然性.应该以发展的观,最看待农村金融.农村金融的破题,离不开农村经济的发展.而目前的现实选择则是鼓励各种形式的金融组织在农村提供服务.     

Good debts,bad debts: Microcredit and managing debt in rural south India

This paper engages with debates around microcredit, once a development success story, but now much critiqued. Arguing that microcredit can only be understood within the wider context of debt, we draw on ethnographic material from two villages in Tamil Nadu, to examine how microcredit through self‐help groups sits within a broader context of indebtedness among the rural labouring classes. We describe patterns and sources of borrowing among the poor, the ways in which debts are managed, negotiated and settled within households and the ways in which the management of debt is mediated by gender, caste, class and aspiration. The paper calls for a more nuanced understanding of debt: some debts are seen as ‘good’ and others as ‘bad’. We explore the ways in which microcredit, channelled through self‐help groups, is—against much contemporary criticism—perceived by women borrowers in our study villages as a source of ‘good debt’ and praised as an enabling factor in their everyday household management as well as in aspirations for mobility and development. We also argue that microcredit can have positive impacts by enabling social investments that enhance status and reduce dependency.     

农村小额信贷业商业化的进程、条件及对策

目前我国小额信贷业尚处于起步阶段,但东南亚及拉丁美洲很多国家的小额信贷业已经发展到相当成熟的阶段。这些国家的经验表明,小额信贷业可持续发展的前提就是经营商业化、利率市场化和风险控制完善化。当前我国发展小额信贷业可以有效地缓解我国城市流动性过剩和农村流动性不足的问题,同时促进“三农”发展。本文在梳理国际小额信贷业发展经验的基础上,对我国小额信贷业的发展提出了借鉴和建议。