Author Archives: admin

Futures Pricing in the Agricultural Sector: Research Findings

Shawn Cole, Stefan Hunt, David Yanagizawa-Drott

For anyone trading or investing in a product, knowledge of prevailing market prices is of utmost significance. For products with high price volatility, informed future pricing can affect current investment decisions as well as lead to more accurate price expectations. … Read More

Role of Financial Intermediaries in the Indian Life Insurance Sector

Santosh Anagol, Shawn Cole, Shayak Sarkar

Agents continue to be the lifeblood of India’s life insurance sector, even with rapid urbanisation and advent of customer-friendly technologies. As there are several complexities associated with the sector, most consumers prefer taking the agent route to purchase a policy … Read More

Unpacking the Causal Chain of Financial Literacy

Fenella Carpena, Shawn Cole, Jeremy Shapiro, Bilal Zia

A growing body of literature examines the causal impact of financial literacy on individual, household, and firm level outcomes. This paper unpacks the mechanism of impact by focusing on the first link in the causal chain. Specifically, it studies the … Read More

Barriers to Household Risk Management – Evidence from India

Shawn Cole, Xavier Giné, Jeremy Tobacman, Petia Topalova, Robert Townsend, James Vickery

A study conducted by the Centre for Microfinance (CMF) in 5 districts of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat looked deeper into identifying the reasons for the low take-up of rainfall insurance products using a statistically rigorous methodology (Randomized Controlled Trials – … Read More

A Civil Action: The Role of Indian Civil Society in the Climate Arena

Ambuj Sagar, Sujatha Byravan, Sudhir Chella Rajan

In this report, the authors present an overview of the science of climate change and its impacts in South Asia, examine India‟s climate emissions profile and the range of impacts that may result from a changed climate, and discuss possible … Read More

Are there Cultural Determinants of Entrepreneurship?

Rajkamal Iyer, Antoinette Schoar

This paper sheds light on the heterogeneity in the way that entrepreneurs from different communities conduct their business and the importance of community ties on the business dealings of entrepreneurs.

Impact of a Grace Period in Microfinance Loan Contracts

IFMR LEAD

This policy note presents insights from a study that examines the impact of introducing flexibility into microfinance repayment schedules, specifically through adding a two-month grace period.

Microfinance and Social Capital

This brief presents preliminary insights from a study in peri-urban of Kolkata on the role of social capital in group lending models.

Equity Investment in Indian Microfinance: A Guide for Practitioners

Doug Johnson, Michael Chasnow

In this paper, the authors document the recent rise in equity investment in Indian microfinance and describe the process of obtaining equity financing and working with investors in detail. The authors also briefly describe two new alternative methods of financing … Read More

India Pollution Map – A Backgrounder for Users

Rajesh Rangarajan

The Pollution Map developed at the Centre for Development Finance (CDF) endeavours to support more meaningful tracking of environmental change by creating a repository of pollution monitoring data to capture and disseminate information to civil society in asystematic and user-friendly … Read More