Microfinance: Interventions in Challenging Contexts

This book aims to bring new insights into the effectiveness of microfinance as a tool for boosting entrepreneurial activities that in turn enhance the capabilities of individuals living in extreme poverty across several dimensions of human development, especially in the current challenging times for both individuals and the microfinance industry. Theoretical contributions explore the interplay between classical microfinance models and entrepreneurial ecosystems as well as innovative microfinance models, such as the pass-through microlending model in the crowdfunding context. Empirical contributions shed light to the interplay between microfinance and poverty, economic development, well-being and women's empowerment. The book also considers responses to emerging challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and promoting Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in the microfinance market, specifically focusing on eliminating extreme poverty (SDG1), promoting shared economic growth (SDG8), and reducing the inequalities among countries (SDG10) to ensure all people achieve prosperity.

Introduction. - An introduction to Microfinance book. - Financial system and Institutionalist approach. - Analysing the financial performance of microfinance mutual funds. - The economic efficiency of microfinance institutions: evolution along time and explicative factors. - Assessing Performance Profiles of Microfinance Institutions: New Insights into the Management of the Double Bottom-Line. - Factors influencing loan delinquency in microfinance institutions: a literature review. - Income smoothing in microfinance institutions: The effect of gender on the board of directors and the impact of the financial crisis. - The Influence of Women in the Board on the Efficiency of Brazilian Credit Unions. - Informal microfinance in developing contexts and the case of Xitique in Mozambique: a literature review. - Poverty lending and welfarism approach. - The impact of Microfinance on Individuals' Empowerment: A Systematic Literature Review. - Microfinance effects on entrepreneurship and poverty alleviation: A bibliometric analysis. - Microfinance Interventions in the COVID-19 Challenging Context: A Systematic Review. - Long-term effect of microfinance services on women' s economic empowerment in Yemen. - Natural Disaster, Livelihood Challenges and Microfinance: A Field Survey Analysis of Sundarbans Region in West Bengal, India. - Generalists studies. - Discouragement and Micro Credit Rationing: Are Microfinance Institutions a Panacea? . - The role of entrepreneurial motivation and repayment performance on microcredit terms. - Measuring microcredit delinquency among Uruguayan entrepreneurs: A study of a non-profit microfinance institution. - Dynamics from lending-based prosocial crowdfunding in Eastern Europe: Personal versus business on funding performance. - Nudging as a tool to improve decisions in finance and accounting solutions.