Ashim Kar

The main new contribution of this paper is to examine the Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis using time series data at individual country levels. Empirical focus is on the assessment of income per capita on CO2 emissions in the Arctic countries by taking into account the role of energy consumption. An autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) modeling approach to cointegration is applied to annual data for the period 1960–2010. The results provide little evidence of the existence of the EKC hypothesis for the Arctic countries. We also find that economic growth has a beneficial effect on the environment only in some Arctic countries. Finally, energy consumption is found to have a detrimental effect on the environment in most countries.

Recognizing the factors responsible for the gradual increase in greenhouse gas [e.g. carbon dioxide (CO2)] emissions is crucial to reduce the detrimental consequences on environmental sustainability and human life. Accordingly, spotting the sectors which contribute the most to CO2 emissions and dampen economic growth have become one of the major concerns for policymakers around the globe. Against this background, this paper examines the nexus between economic growth and CO2 emissions in three Baltic countries namely Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Thus, the study basically checks the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis by taking into account the role of energy consumption and financial development over the period of 1990–2018. This type of study is highly important for the region in order to comply with the commitments of the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. The study first employs appropriate testing procedures and sec...

In recent years the growing competition amongst the microfinance institutions (MFIs), has been blamed for the ‘repayment crisis’ in the microfinance industry. This paper is a comprehensive investigation of the impact of competition on the MFIs’ financial performance, outreach, repayment and efficiency. Using instrumental variables (IV) estimations to account for the endogeneity issues, the analysis is based on the global Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) database. Preliminary results suggest that increased competition leads to lower efficiency but does not have an impact on MFIs’ financial performance, its outreach or repayment.

This paper examines the role that official development assistance (ODA) plays in achieving human development outcomes in the presence of good policy environments. Using data from 96 low and middle-income countries for the period 1996-2014, the paper develops and tests static and dynamic panel data models controlling for potential endogeneity of aid and human development. In exploring the impacts of aid, indicators of economic, political and institutional governance were taken into account. With moderate differences across countries, results suggest that foreign aid is positively and significantly linked with, and hence facilitates, human development indicators. Also, the governance indicators influence human development. So, providing more aid is justified if better economic, political and institutional governance in the recipient countries can be ensured.

ABSTRACT Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are generally constrained by double bottom lines: keep the original social mission intact by serving the poor soutenue (the first bottom line) and attain financial sustainability (the second bottom line). However, these two bottom lines can be mutually exclusive in effect. This paper demonstrates how factor analysis, a multivariate statistical tool, can be utilized to examine this conjecture. First, factor analysis is used to construct two simulated performance indicators combining original variables, each one representing a distinct dimension of performance. Then, individual scores ascribed to MFIs on each factor are used as the dependent variables of two simultaneous-equations models that present new evidence on the determinants of MFIs’ performance and mission drift. Les institutions de microfinancement (IFM) sont généralement limitées par une double mission: conserver intacte la mission sociale d'origine en étant au service des pauvres (la première mission) et parvenir à la viabilité financière soutenue (la deuxième mission). Cependant, ces deux objectifs peuvent en réalité s'exclure mutuellement. Le présent article démontre comment l'analyse factorielle, un outil statistique à plusieurs variables, peut être utilisée pour examiner cette conjecture. L'analyse factorielle est d'abord utilisée pour construire deux indicateurs de rendement simulé combinant des variables d'origine, chacun représentant une dimension différente du rendement. Les scores individuels attribués aux IFM pour chaque facteur sont utilisés comme variables dépendantes de deux modèles à équations simultanées qui présentent de nouveaux éléments probants concernant les déterminants des performances des IFM et de la dérive de leur mission.

ABSTRACT Abstract In order to explore why some microfinance institutions (MFIs) perform better than others this paper looked at factors which have impacts on several performance indicators of MFIs—profitability or sustainability, repayment status and cost indicators—utilising quality data on 426 institutions in 81 countries. Results indicate that MFIs can still attain sustainability without necessarily increasing average loan size or interest earning. Implementation of a better interest rate policy and solidarity-group-based loan method and scaling-up by increasing the breadth of outreach help make that possible. By doing so, focus on the poor can be kept and, simultaneously, concerns for mission drift can greatly be avoided. Résumé Afin d'examiner pourquoi certaines institutions de microfinance (IMF) ont un meilleur rendement que d'autres, cette étude se penche sur les facteurs qui ont des impacts sur plusieurs indicateurs de rendement des IMF : la rentabilité, la viabilité, l’évolution du remboursement, et les indicateurs de coût. Pour ce faire, des données de bonne qualité sur 426 institutions de 81 pays furent analysées. Les résultats révèlent que les IMF peuvent atteindre la rentabilité sans pour autant augmenter la grosseur moyenne des prêts ou les revenus d'intérêts. Cela est possible en mettant en place une meilleure politique concernant les taux d'intérêt et un modèle de prêt de groupe de solidarité, ainsi qu'en augmentant l’étendue de la portée de leurs programmes. En agissant de cette façon, l'accent peut demeurer sur l'aide au pauvre et, en même temps, les préoccupations à l’égard d'un éloignement par rapport à la mission de ces institutions peuvent en grande partie être écartées.

This paper explores the impact of profitability on depth of outreach in microfinance institutions, a trade-off between which is commonly known as ‘mission drift’, using a unique panel database containing 4–6 years’ observations from 409 MFIs in 71 countries. The concerns for ‘mission drift’ seemed invalid, although several countervailing results also emerged when scaling up indicators of size and age

This paper aims to explore the impact of capital and financing structure on the performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) from an agency theoretic standpoint. GMM and IV estimations with instruments have been performed using a panel dataset of 782 MFIs in 92 countries for the period 2000–2007. Results confirm the agency theoretic claim that an increase in leverage raises profit-efficiency in MFIs. The study also finds that cost efficiency deteriorates with decreasing leverage. Likewise, the negative significant impact of leverage on depth of outreach can also be explained. However, the study finds that capital structure does not have any noticeable impact on breadth of outreach and neither is it significantly related with women’s participation as loan clients.