In the News
USAID Announces a New Grant on The Role of Mobile Banking in Expanding Trade Credit and Business Development in Kenya, November 2011
Read up on specific details of the evaluation on the project’s Summary Page.
Related links
Dean Karlan and Brooke Berman Discuss Microsavings and Microfinance USA Conference , May 2011
Dean Karlan and Brooke Berman, IPA Senior Project Associate, spoke about important issues at the Microfinance USA Conference 2011 in New York.
Dean discussed the emergence of microsavings as the most promising angle for microfinance, as well as the importance of rigorous evaluation. He also used the platform to reach out to new partners for IPA's US Household Finance Initiative.
Brooke spoke about her work with the US Household Finance Initiative, where alongside academic director Prof. Jonathan Zinman she is working with consumer finance firms to develop and test new products based on insights from behavioral economics, to help nudge consumers into actions which are better both for themselves and the company.
Dean Karlan Discusses Microsavings & MPII During Interview with Yale Global Health Initiative
March 22nd, 2011 - Yale Global Health Initiative
Question from Yale Daily Bulletin - How are you going to use the Gates Foundation grant?
Karlan: "Through this grant and the initiative - it's called the Microsavings and Payments Innovation Initiative (MPII) - Yale and our partner IPA are going to suppor close to 20 research projects, with most in Africa and South Asia. Overall the research generated through this initiative will look to understand the development potential of microsavings and payment systems, and will answer questions of mutual interest to the Gates Foundation and me; in practice these projects will look at the big issues of impact of savings on welfare as well as thow best to design products to increase the use of savings accounts...We're keen to work with researchers from the countries where we are conducting our projects, as their input in both project generation and policy outreach is vital to making this initiative a success.."
Small Business Might Be Big Business for Mobile Money
March 23, 2011 Jake Kendall, Next Billion
"Mobile money is usually marketed as a way for workers in urban settings to send money home and support their family. But a product like mobile money, which provides a faster, safer, traceable, long distance way to pay people (that doesn't require change!) is much too fundamental to be used just for one purpose. Potential uses include supporting children away at school, paying domestic staff, contributing to group savings schemes, storing money for safe keeping while traveling, and plenty other - some "Lotharios" even use it to support their mistresses! Small business owners and entrepreneurs are also getting in on the action.."
February 28, 2011 Ignacio Mas, World Bank
"Why is the term microfinance still used by so many as if it were synonymous with microcredit? Credit is only one form of finance."
Dean Karlan talks about the New Microsavings Research Agenda
January 26, 2011 From the Blog
Read the rest of the story at the New Haven Register
March 11, 2010 The Economist
"It is hard for people in the rich world to imagine what it is like to live on $2 a day. But for those who do, the problem is often not just a low income, but an unpredictable one. Living on $2 a day frequently means living for ten days on $20 earned on a single day. The task of smoothing consumption is made more complicated if there is nowhere to store money safely. Sendhil Mullainathan, a Harvard economist, points out that there is often a big gap between what people say they’d like to save and what they end up saving."
December 30, 2009 Nicholas Kristof, New York Times
"There’s evidence that the most powerful element of microfinance is microsavings, not microloans... So it’s time for a global microsavings movement."
CARE Releases New Report on Microfinance in Africa (Report) (Video)
September 16, 2009 CARE
"The report highlights the best practices from five successful microfinance institutions in Africa. While they are all different in how and where they operate, they are among the most successful microfinance institutions in Africa and share some common traits."
Conversation on Village Savings and Loan Associations
September 14, 2009 David Roodman
"VSLAs are running in 28 countries in Africa, five in Asia (Afghanistan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal), two in Latin America (Ecuador, El Salvador). And his data are for CRS, CARE, Oxfam, Plan, and World Vision only. Lots of small organizations are doing it too, and are not counted."
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