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Microfinance Regulation: Two Countries Show What Works and What Doesn’t
Uganda and India have further institutionalized the growing political popularity of microfinance by attempting to regulate it.? A closer look shows how government intervention can facilitate or hinder the growth of these programs. ? Uganda?s government has chosen to simply limit the...
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Trends in the “South” Will Have Serious Affects on the BOP
As heads of the World Bank battle it out over how to curtail corruption in beneficiary countries, a curious trend is forming that could be a far greater threat to the open, global economic system they favor than any graft or bribery scheme. Over the weekend 116 countries were represented at the...
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Inveneo is not OLPC, But It’s Wiring Rural Africa One Village At a Time
The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project gets a lot of hype, which I have no problem with- the more attention the media devotes to development issues the better, in my opinion. But it always bothers me a bit that this MIT creation gets all the press when it hasn?t even reached the...
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World Bank Seminar of Private Sector Development – More of the Same?
UPDATE: Michael Jarvis has posted notes from another meeting, this one called Business Reaching the Poor. Based on his post, it sounds like the second seminar was more focused and less rhetorical than the first (although that’s not saying much.) Thanks to PSD Blogger Michael Jarvis, we...
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Fairtrade Fires Back – Is A Flawed System Better Than None At All?
You may have read a blog I posted recently discussing some of the problems with the Fairtrade system; this drew directly on a Financial Times article detailing the ways coffee growers in Peru pass their products off as Fairtrade while circumventing the rules. Soon after, the Fairtrade...
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On India’s Farms, a Plague of Suicide
There is a poignant article in today’s New York Times on the alarming rate of suicides amongst India’s farmers - more than 17,000 in 2003. Tracing the causes of this epidemic, the article explores a confluence of forces from moneylenders to American multinationals selling genetically...
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Trending Towards SMEs – Do New Funds Indicate Progress?
Formal, profitable SME financing is gaining momentum in India, as two articles in last week?s Indian financial press indicate:ICICI Venture mulls 4 specialized fundsNew SME Fund to Launch in IndiaSmall and medium sized enterprise investment funds are not new; we?ve discussed the Shell...
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Rating Ease of Business and Economic Freedom in 2006
September is an exciting month for country ranking enthusiasts. World Bank?s 2007 Doing Business Report, and Cato/Fraser Institute?s 2006 Economic Freedom Report were released back-to-back, Sep 6 and Sep 7, respectively, begging for some compare-and-contract action. First, what are the...
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