Credit is essential in poor rural economies in a variety of ways. It is required to finance
working capital and investment in fixed capital, particularly among farmers too poor to …

Competition between microfinance institutions (MFIs) in developing countries has increased
dramatically in the last decade. We model the behavior of non-profit lenders, and show that …

Provision of low-cost credit to the poor through self-help groups (SHGs) has been embraced
as a key poverty-reduction strategy in developing countries, but evidence on the impact of …

We present a model of an unsecured loan market. Many lenders simultaneously offer loan
contracts (a debt level and an interest rate) to a borrower. The borrower may accept more …

The paper studies bilateral contracting between one principal and N agents when each
agent's utility depends on the principal's unobservable contracts with other agents. We show …

We study equilibria for economies with hidden action in environments in which the agents'
contractual relationships with competing financial intermediaries cannot be monitored (or …

Multiple bank lending induces borrowers to take too much debt when creditor rights are
poorly protected; moreover, banks wish to engage in opportunistic lending at their …

The colonial experience of developing countries provides valuable evidence regarding the
impact of legal and institutional innovations on economic growth. However, there has been …

We develop a model in which collateral serves to protect creditors from the claims of other
creditors. We find that, paradoxically, borrowers rely most on collateral when pledgeability is …

Does competition among financial intermediaries lead to excessively low standards? To
examine this question, we construct a model where intermediaries design contracts to attract …