Douglas Cumming & Yizhe Dong 
Microfinance for Entrepreneurial Development 
Sustainability and Inclusion in Emerging Markets

This edited collection presents recent developments, practical innovations, and policy reforms in the realm of microfinance in emerging markets. Microfinance has been hotly debated by ever-colliding camps of ardent supporters, who believe that microfinance addresses credit market failures and provides a durable answer to the problem of the poverty, and staunch critics, who argue that lending by microfinance institutions is wasteful, and the interest rates are too high. To bring further insight into this important debate, this book presents comprehensive historical, political, and economic perspectives on the latest issues in microfinance. An impressive array of scholars and practitioners build a framework for thinking about regulation to drive sustainable, inclusive development. With case studies of programs in India, Ghana, and Bangladesh, and examinations of the effects of gender and religion on financial decision-making, this comprehensive collection offers something valuable to scholars, policymakers, and practitioners—anyone with a vested interest in promoting innovation in microfinance.

Table of Content

1. The End of Imagination? Understanding New Developments in Microfinance.- 2. The Influence of Formal and Informal Institutions on Microcredit: Financial Inclusion for Micro-Entrepreneurs by Lender Type.- 3. Microfinance for Entrepreneurial Development: Study of Women’s Group Enterprise Development in India.- 4. Perception of Microfinance Debtors and Loan Officers on the Importance of Entrepreneurial and Business Skills for Loan Repayment Rates.- 5. Choice of Finance in an Emerging Market: The Impact of Independent Decisions, Politics, and Religion.- 6. Managing Everyday Living: Microfinance and Capability.- 7. Credit, Microfinance, and Empowerment.- 8. Microfinance Impact Assessment Methodologies: Is it Qualitative, Quantitative, or Both?.- 9. What is Islamic Microfinance?.- 10. Determinants of Total Factor Productivity in Microfinance Institutions: Evidence from Bangladesh.

About the author

Douglas Cumming is Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship and Ontario Research Chair at the Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada. 





Yizhe Dong is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Finance at University of Aberdeen, UK.





Wenxuan Hou is Chair of Corporate Finance at the University of Edinburgh Business School, UK.





Binayak Sen is Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, DC, USA.