0000000000336168
AUTHOR
Valentina Hartarska
Which Governance Mechanisms Promote Efficiency in Reaching Poor Clients? Evidence from Rated Microfinance Institutions
Accepted version of an article from the journal: European Financial Management. Also available from Wiley: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-036X.2009.00524.x
Governance and Scope Economies in Microfinance Institutions
This paper studies the relation between board size and composition and cost savings (scope economies) from combining savings mobilization and lending by Microfinance Institutions. The findings support the hypothesis that employee representation on the board is associated with positive scope economies, possibly due to internal knowledge. However, CEO Chairman duality is associated with equal or larger probability of scope diseconomies, which is consistent with previous findings. Representation of other stakeholders on the MFI board does not affect scope economies. The results seem to support the notion that, in highly uncertain environments, group cohesion may be an advantageous mechanism of…
Which governance mechanisms promote efficiency in reaching poor clients? Evidence from rated microfinance institutions
Accepted version of an article from the journal: European Financial Management. Also available from Wiley: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-036X.2009.00524.x This paper evaluates the effectiveness of several governance mechanisms on microfinance institutions' (MFI) performance. We first define performance as efficiency in reaching many poor clients. Following the literature on efficiency in banks, we estimate a stochastic cost frontier and measure output by the number of clients. Therefore, we capture the cost minimisation goal and the goal of serving many poor clients, both of which are pursued by MFIs. We next explore the impact of measurable governance mechanisms on the individual effici…
Scale economies and input price elasticities in microfinance institutions
Author's version of an article in the journal: Journal of Banking & Finance. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2012.08.004 We evaluate the efficiency of microfinance institutions (MFIs) using a structural approach which also captures these institutions' outreach and sustainability objectives. We estimate economies of scale and input price elasticities for lending-only and deposit-mobilizing MFIs using a large sample of high-quality panel data. The results confirm conjectures that improvements in efficiency can come from the growth or consolidations of MFIs, as we find substantial increasing returns to scale for all but profitability-focused deposit-m…
Should all microfinance institutions mobilize microsavings? Evidence from economies of scope
Published version of an article from the journal: Empirical Economics. Also available from the publisher on SpringetLink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00181-014-0861-3 We extend a recently developed generalized local polynomial estimator into a semiparametric smooth coefficient framework to estimate a generalized cost function. The advantage of the generalized local polynomial approach is that we can simultaneously choose the degree of polynomial for each continuous nonparametric regressor and the bandwidths via data-driven methods. We provide estimates of scope economies from the joint production of microloans and microdeposits for a dataset of Microfinance Institutions from over 50 countrie…
Economies of diversification in microfinance: Evidence from quantile estimation on panel data
Abstract Prior studies of the diversification-driven cost savings from the joint provision of credit and deposits in microfinance usually ignore the multi-way heterogeneity across MFIs which vary substantially in size, business model, target clientele and operate in diverse environments. Using a quantile panel data model with correlated effects capable of accommodating multiple heterogeneity, we show that the typical measurement of economies of diversification at the mean provides an incomplete and distorted picture of their magnitude and prevalence in the industry. While we find statistically significant estimates, they are modest for most small-size MFIs but are quite substantial for larg…
Governance and scope economies in microfinance institutions
This paper studies the relation between board size and composition and cost savings (scope economies) from combining savings mobilisation and lending by Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). The findings support the hypothesis that employee representation on the board is associated with positive scope economies, possibly due to internal knowledge. However, CEO-Chairman duality is associated with equal or larger probability of scope diseconomies, which is consistent with previous findings. Representation