Governance and Performance of Microfinance Institutions in Central And Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States

This paper presents the first evidence on the impact of external governance mechanisms, board diversity and independence, and management compensation on outreach and sustainability of microfinance institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States. Results indicate that among external governance mechanisms only auditing affects outreach, whereas regulation and rating do not affect performance. Board diversity improves both outreach and sustainability while larger and less independent boards lower sustainability. Performance-based compensation is not effective in aligning the interest of managers and stakeholders, and underpaying managers reduces outreach.Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States, governance, microfinance, board of directors, managerial compensation, regulation, and rating

Governance and Performance of Microfinance Institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States

This paper presents the first evidence on the impact of board diversity and independence, and management compensation on outreach and sustainability of microfinance institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States. Results indicate that board diversity improves both outreach and sustainability while larger and less independent boards lower sustainability. Performance-based compensation is not effective in aligning the interest of managers and stakeholders, and underpaying managers reduces outreach.governance, microfinance, board of directors, managerial compensation, Financial Economics,

Governance and Performance of Microfinance Institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States

This paper studies how various governance mechanisms affect the performance of microfinance institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States. Results show that managerial compensation matters, that market forces are becoming important disciplining device, and that board size, diversification and independence affect both outreach and sustainability.Financial Economics,

Rating in Microfinance: Cross-Country Evidence

This paper studies whether microfinance rating agencies were able to impose market discipline on microfinance institutions (MFIs) during the period 1998-2002. Results indicate that not all rating agencies had equal impact. While some rating agencies were able to promote better sustainability, there is some weak evidence that rating by a particular rater might have induce moral hazard, whereby after receiving good rating, MFIs had worse performance perhaps because in some regions several raters operated simultaneously. Evidence also suggests that subsidized rating does not encourage improvements in sustainability and has negative impact on outreach. Rating by some individual raters helped MFIs to raise additional funds.Financial Economics,

INVESTMENTS AND PROPERTY RIGHTS IN RUSSIA: EVIDENCE FROM SMALL FIRMS IN SAMARA

This study establishes empirically that the financial restrictions faced by micro and small entrepreneurs in Russia influence their investment decisions. Survey data from 305 entrepreneurs are used to identify credit market imperfections resulting from asymmetric information.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Investment in Young and Established Microenterprises in Russia

This paper shows that imperfections in the credit market and insecurity of property rights affect nonuniformly the investment of younger and established microenterprises in Russia. The empirical analysis of investment is based on the liquidity constraint model but also accounts for the added challenged that the weak institutional structure and the small size of the enterprises pose. Investment in younger firms is most constrained by the availability of funds, while investment in more established microenterprises is affected by the ability of the entrepreneurs to "secure" their property rights by paying bribes. Financial institutions are unable to distinguish good from bad borrowers but lend to firms that have transparent transactions.Agricultural Finance,

PERFORMANCE AND GOVERNANCE OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

This paper investigates the influence of board size and board diversity on the performance of Community Development Financial Institutions' operating in the Southeast. The results indicate that at present many CDFI boards are larger than optimal. The results also show that CDFIs generally have well diversified boards and that these organizations' performance is unlikely to improve by further diversifying their boards. However, CDFIs performance may be improved by promoting smaller boards.Financial Economics,

Governance and Performance of Microfinance Institutions in Central And Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States

This paper presents the first evidence on the impact of external governance mechanisms, board diversity and independence, and management compensation on outreach and sustainability of microfinance institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States. Results indicate that among external governance mechanisms only auditing affects outreach, whereas regulation and rating do not affect performance. Board diversity improves both outreach and sustainability while larger and less independent boards lower sustainability. Performance-based compensation is not effective in aligning the interest of managers and stakeholders, and underpaying managers reduces outreach.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40063/2/wp677.pd

An Impact Analysis of Microfinance in Bosnia and Herzegovina

This paper applies the financing constraint approach to study whether microfinance institutions improved access to credit for microenterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to this approach, microenterprises with improved assess to credit rely less on internal funds for their investments. Thus, we compare investment sensitivity to internal funds of micorenterprises in municipalities with significant presence of MFIs to that of micorenterprises in municipalities with no (or limited) presence of MFIs using Living Standards Measurement Survey and MFI branch location data. Results indicate that MFIs alleviated microbusinessesí financing constraint. This approach is applicable to evaluating microfinance impact in other countries.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64359/1/wp915.pd

Financing Constraints and the Family Farm: How do Families React?

This paper explores the idea that off-farm income is used for investment in farm assets. Using Alabama farm data for the 1997-2004 period, we find that farm investment is more sensitive to off-farm than to on-farm income, and that this sensitivity is stronger for farms with sales less than $250,000.Farm Management, Q12, Q14, G11,