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on Microfinance |
| By: | Isabelle Piot-Lepetit (UMR MOISA - Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - CIHEAM-IAMM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier - CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier - Montpellier SupAgro - Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques); Joseph Nzongang |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is an assessment of the financial and social performance of a network of village banks in Cameroon and the provision of data-driven guidance to managers helping them in their decision making process. An analysis framework in three stages is developed. First, a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) analysis is implemented for measuring efficiency, identifying best-practices, and setting goals to less efficient MFIs. Then, a DEA operating frontiers (DEA-OF) model is designed to identify improvement paths setting short-term goals towards their long-term DEA objective and providing effective and time dependent guidance to managers in their efficiency improvement process. Finally, DEA and DEA-OF results are translated into financial and non-financial indicators daily used by managers through three different and interrelated scorecards. Besides, results of this third stage are used for identifying village banks ready for the new phase of development of the network aiming to funding community projects. |
| Keywords: | financial performance,social performance,data envelopment analysis,community growth mutual funds,DEA operating frontiers,benchmarking,financial and social efficiency,performance indicator,improvement path,financial sustainability,outreach to the poor,microfinance,mission drift |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02619461&r=all |
| By: | Simplice A. Asongu (Yaounde, Cameroon); Nicholas Biekpe (Cape Town, South Africa); Danny Cassimon (University of Antwerp, Belgium) |
| Abstract: | The present research extends Lashitew, van Tulder and Liasse (2019, RP) in order to understand the greater diffusion of mobile money innovations in Africa. To make this assessment, a comparative analysis is engaged between sampled African countries and the corresponding sampled developing countries. Three main types of predictor groups are used for the study, namely: demand, supply and macro-level factors. The empirical evidence is based on Tobit regressions. The tested hypothesis is confirmed because from a comparative analysis between African-specific estimates and those of the sampled countries, not all factors driving mobile money innovations in Africa are apparent in the findings of Lashitew et al. (2019). An extended analysis is also performed to take on board the concern of multicollinearity from which, the best estimators from the study are derived. Comparative findings from correlation analysis show that an African specificity is largely traceable to the ‘unique mobile subscription rate’ variable. An in-depth empirical analysis further confirms an African specificity in the outcome variables (especially in the mobile used to send/receive money) which, may be traceable to informal sector variables not documented in Lashitew et al. (2019). Scholarly and policy implications are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Mobile money; technology diffusion; financial inclusion; inclusive innovation |
| JEL: | D10 D14 D31 D60 O30 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:exs:wpaper:20/032&r=all |
| By: | Apoorv Gupta; Jacopo Ponticelli; Andrea Tesei |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of information on technology adoption and productivity in agriculture. Our empirical strategy exploits the expansion of the mobile phone network in previously uncovered areas of rural India coupled with the availability of call centers for agricultural advice. We measure information on agricultural practices by analyzing the content of 2.5 million phone calls made by farmers to one of India's leading call centers for agricultural advice. We find that areas receiving coverage from new towers and with no language barriers between farmers and advisers answering their calls experience higher adoption of high yielding varieties of seeds and other complementary inputs, as well as higher increase in agricultural productivity. Our estimates indicate that information frictions can explain around 25 percent of the agricultural productivity gap between the most productive and the least productive areas in our sample. |
| JEL: | O33 O4 Q16 Q55 |
| Date: | 2020–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27192&r=all |