Cull, RobertNavajas, SergioNishida, IppeiZeiler, Renate2014-02-032014-02-032013-09https://hdl.handle.net/10986/16843This paper describes a new index of the quality of the business environment for microfinance institutions (the Global Microscope on the Microfinance Business Environment). Regressions are used to validate the index by linking it and its subcomponents to microfinance outcomes. The main findings are that the components of the index related to the supporting institutional framework are strongly linked to measures of microfinance penetration (such as microfinance borrowers as a share of total population). Components related to the framework for regulation and supervision are more strongly linked to outcomes at the microfinance institution level, including loan portfolio quality, financial self-sufficiency, average loan size, and the share of lending to women. Many, but not all, of these relationships are robust to using instrumental variables estimation in which a country's general stringency with respect to financial regulation is used as an instrument for the index and its components.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOACCOUNTINGACCOUNTING STANDARDSASSET VALUESASSETSBANK CREDITBANK POLICYBANKING INSTITUTIONSBANKING REGULATIONBANKING SECTORBANKING SECTOR DEVELOPMENTBANKING SECTORSBANKING SERVICESBENCHMARKBENCHMARKINGCOMMERCIAL BANKCOMMERCIAL BANKINGCOMMERCIAL BANKSCONSUMER SURPLUSCORRUPTIONCREDIT BUREAUSCREDIT RATING AGENCIESCREDIT UNIONCREDIT UNIONSDEFAULT RATESDEPENDENTDEPOSITDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT BANKDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT POLICYDISPUTE RESOLUTIONDISPUTE RESOLUTION MECHANISMSDOMESTIC CREDITDOMESTIC CREDIT RATINGDUMMY VARIABLESECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC OUTCOMESENTREPRENEURSHIPENVIRONMENTSFINANCE CORPORATIONFINANCIAL DEVELOPMENTFINANCIAL INSTITUTIONFINANCIAL INSTITUTIONSFINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIESFINANCIAL PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL REGULATIONFINANCIAL SECTORFINANCIAL SECTOR DEVELOPMENTFINANCIAL SERVICESFINANCIAL SUPPORTFINANCIAL SYSTEMFINANCIAL TRANSACTIONSFORBEARANCEGDPGDP DEFLATORINDIVIDUAL LIABILITYINFLATIONINFLATION RATEINSOLVENCYINSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTINSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORKINSTRUMENTINTEREST RATESINTERNATIONAL BANKINTERNATIONAL FINANCEINVESTMENT FUNDLENDERSLIABILITYLOANLOAN PORTFOLIOLOAN PORTFOLIO QUALITYLOAN PORTFOLIOSLOAN RATESLOAN RATIOSLOAN REPAYMENTLOAN REPAYMENT RATESLOAN SIZELOAN SIZESMACROECONOMIC CONTEXTMACROECONOMIC VARIABLESMACROECONOMICSMICROCREDITMICROFINANCEMICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONMICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONSMICROFINANCE REGULATIONMICROFINANCE SECTORNON-PERFORMING LOANORGANIZATIONAL FORMOVERHEAD COSTSPER CAPITA INCOMEPOLITICAL STABILITYPORTFOLIO QUALITYPORTFOLIOSPOSITIVE COEFFICIENTPOSITIVE COEFFICIENTSPROFITABILITYPROPERTY RIGHTSPROPERTY RIGHTS PROTECTIONSPRUDENTIAL SUPERVISIONREGIONAL DUMMIESREGIONAL DUMMYREGRESSION ANALYSISREGULATORY FRAMEWORKREGULATORY FRAMEWORKSREGULATORY STRUCTURESREORGANIZATIONREPAYMENTREPAYMENT RATESRULE OF LAWRURAL BANKRURAL BANKSSMALL LOANSUPERVISORY AUTHORITYSUPERVISORY FRAMEWORKSUPERVISORY REGIMESTITLETRADINGTRANSPARENCYWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-6625