Yale Bulletin and Calendar

May 11, 2007|Volume 35, Number 28|Two-Week Issue

Project aims to improve financial
services for those living in poverty

Researchers at Yale, Harvard, New York University and the nonprofit organization Innovations for Poverty Action will collaborate on a five-year initiative to improve access to financial information and loans for low-income individuals in developing countries.

The Financial Access Initiative is funded by a $5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

One of the biggest hurdles to opening up financial sectors to those living in poverty is a lack of hard data and analysis about how low-income households manage their finances and cope with risk. Despite reports about the success of some microfinance ventures, there is little information about the economic and social impacts of different interventions and policies.

"As donors ... it is critical that we make decisions informed by sound research," says Bob Christen, director of financial services for the poor at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "We hope that the Financial Access Initiative will yield data, analysis and research that decision-makers need to deliver financial services that markedly advance the well-being of the poor."

This grant will enable experts to assess existing research, generate new evidence through fieldwork, and inform regulatory policy. The research will build on studies with existing microfinance partners in a dozen countries including Mexico, Peru, India, Pakistan, Ghana and the Philippines. The initiative is also developing new collaborative relationships to broaden the potential of the research and dissemination of findings.

The principal investigator is Jonathan Morduch, professor at New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, where the project is based. The initiative is co-directed by economics professors Dean Karlan of Yale and Sendhil Mullainathan of Harvard. Christina Barrineau, who formerly headed the International Year of Microcredit for the United Nations, will lead the initiative as managing director.

Field research will be coordinated by Innovations for Poverty Action, an organization based in New Haven, and headed by Karlan.

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