Microfinance social performance: A global empirical study

Over the years, microfinance has been purported to have experienced enormous progress and is seen to contribute towards poverty reduction by extending finance to people previously excluded from formal financial markets. However, the question on how microfinance social performance is assessed remains unresolved. The paper develops an original social performance rating for 878 microfinance institutions (MFIs), across all geographic regions in the world for a period of 11 years (2000-2010). Furthermore, the paper investigates whether or not the age, assets, regulation status, loans per loan officers, as well as the profit status of MFIs affect MFIs’ ability to perform socially

An empirical study of microfinance social performance

Over the years, microfinance has been purported to have experienced enormous amounts of progress and is seen to contribute towards poverty reduction, however, the question on how microfinance social performance is assessed remains unresolved. Several studies have emerged with the aim of appraising the social performance of microfinance as well as enriching the debate on performance assessment. However, most of these studies focus on either measuring the impacts on beneficiaries or on taking the subjective perspective of practitioners, respectively. By contrast, this paper attempts to bridge these two schools of thought and resorts to a quantitative approach for assessing the social performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) based on an externally-audited set of indicators of social performance, which warrants objectivity and reliability of information. Thus, the paper presents a comprehensive analytical structure of the social performance made by MFIs using panel data. The paper identifies indicators for social performance and develops a social performance rating for 878 MFIs, across all geographic regions each year for a period of 11 years (2000-2010) using quantitative methodologies. Furthermore, with the generated social performance ratings and with the use of econometric methodologies and models, the paper investigates whether or not, the age, assets, regulation status, loans per loan officers, as well as the profit status of MFIs affect MFIs’ ability to perform socially

What do we know about R&D spillovers and productivity? Meta-analysis on heterogeneity and statistical power

Endogenous growth theory and the knowledge capital model predict that research and development (R&D) investment is associated with increasing returns and positive externalities. These insights have informed public support for R&D investment directly and indirectly. We aim to establish where the balance of the evidence lies, the extent to which the evidence has adequate statistical power, and which factors may explain the variation in the empirical findings. Drawing on 983 spillovers and 501 own-R&D effect-size estimates from 60 empirical studies, we find that the average productivity effect of spillovers: (i) is smaller than what is reported in most narrative reviews; (ii) is even smaller when only adequately-powered evidence is considered; (iii) differs by spillover types; and (iv) is not larger than that of own-R&D. We also report that the percentage of adequately-powered evidence is low (30%-55%). We highlight the implications of these findings for future research and public policy design

Government education expenditures and economic growth: a meta-analysis

Using a sample of 237 estimates drawn from 29 primary studies, we conduct a hierarchical meta-regression analysis that examines the association between economic growth and government expenditure on education. We find that the effect of government education expenditure on growth is positive for developed countries. However, when the evidence pertains to less developed countries (LDCs), we find a statistically insignificant association. We also examine the heterogeneity in empirical results and found that factors such as econometric specifications, publication characteristics as well as data characteristics explain the heterogeneity in the literature. We find no evidence of publication selectivity

Social Capital Inequality and Subjective Wellbeing of Older Chinese

Using longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this study provides insights on comparative wellbeing outcomes for older people who are institutionally segregated into clusters that produce uneven social capital. We present the first study that examines how institutionalized social capital inequality,measured by the social capital gapgenerated by hukou(household registration) statusin China,affects the wellbeing of older people. Our results showthat high levels of social capital inequality are associated with lower subjective wellbeing, measured by life satisfaction. This general conclusion is robust to a number of sensitivity checks including alternative ways of measuring subjective wellbeing and inequality. We also find that the negative relationship between social capital inequality and subjective wellbeing is strongest for people with a non-urban hukouliving in urban areas.Our findings highlight the need for policies aimed at narrowing the social capital gap and the dismantling of institutional structures that hinder upward social capital mobility

Income Inequality and Subjective Wellbeing: Panel Data Evidence from China

Using four waves of longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), we examine the effects of income inequality on subjective wellbeing (SWB). We take a dual approach in measuring income inequality, and thus, we examine the effects of inequality using province-level Gini coefficient as well as between-group inequality or identity-related inequality defined as the income gap between migrants without urban household registration identity (hukou) and urban residents. We find negative effects of both province-level income inequality and between-group income inequality on SWB, measured by life satisfaction. Our results also show that the effects of income inequality on SWB is stronger for rural hukou residents compared to urban hukou residents. These findings are robust to alternative ways of measuring SWB and income inequality. In addition, we find evidence suggesting that neighbourhood trust is an important channel through which income inequality operates to reduce SWB. We suggest policies that promote trust in communities with high inequality with a view of addressing the negative effects of inequality on SWB

Sustainability and outreach: a comparative study of MFIs in South Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean

Previous studies indicate that microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have different operational strategies to MFIs in South Asia (SA). Given the recent emphasis placed on the feasibility of MFIs to achieve the dual goals of outreach and sustainability concurrently, we examine and compare the relationship between sustainability and outreach of MFIs in LAC with MFIs in SA. Our results indicate that trade-offs exist between outreach and sustainability in both regions. However, the severity of trade-off is dependent on which goal MFIs decide to focus on in each region

Technological innovation and employment in derived labour demand models: A hierarchical meta-regression analysis

The effect of technological innovation on employment is of major concern for workers and their unions, policy-makers and academic researchers. We aim to provide a quantitative synthesis of the evidence base and the extent of heterogeneity therein. Analysing 567 estimates from 35 primary studies that estimate a derived labour demand model we report the following findings: (i) the effect on employment is positive but small and highly heterogeneous; (ii) publication selection bias reflects a tendency to support the twin hypotheses that process innovation is associated with job destruction whereas product innovation is associated with job creation; (iii) the effects of process and product innovations do not conform to theoretical predictions or narrative review findings after selection bias is controlled for; (iv) only a small part of the residual heterogeneity is explained by moderating factors; (v) country-specific effect-size estimates are related to labour-market and product-market regulation in six OECD countries in a U-shaped fashion; and (vi) OLS estimates reflect upward bias whereas those based on time-differenced or within estimators reflect a downward bias. Our findings bridge the evidence gap in the research field and point out to data quality and modeling issues that should be considered in future research