Cover -- Title Page -- Contents -- Foreword -- The Report Team -- Abbreviations -- Overview and Summary -- Introduction -- Evaluating the impact of access to finance for firms -- Evaluating impact of access to finance for households -- Policies to broaden access -- Directions for future research -- 1 Access to Finance and Development: Theory and Measurement -- Introduction -- Theory: The Crucial Role of Access to Finance -- Measurement: Indicators of Access to Finance -- Conclusions -- Notes -- 2 Firms' Access to Finance: Entry, Growth, and Productivity -- Introduction -- Access to Finance: Determinants and Implications -- The Channels of Impact: Micro and Macro Evidence -- Transforming the Economy: Differences in Impact -- What Aspects of Financial Sector Development Matter for Access? -- Banks versus Markets -- Access to Debt Finance -- The Role of Foreign Banks -- Access to Nonbank Debt Finance -- Access to External Equity -- Conclusions -- Notes -- 3 Household Access to Finance: Poverty Alleviation and Risk Mitigation -- Introduction -- Finance, Inequality, and Poverty -- Providing Financial Access to Households and Microentrepreneurs: How and by Whom? -- Joint-Liability Lending and Dynamic Incentives -- Reaching Out to the Poor or to the Excluded? -- Conclusions -- Notes -- 4 Government's Role in Facilitating Access -- Introduction -- Expanding Access: Importance of Long-Term Institution Building -- Specific Policies to Facilitate Financial Access -- Policies to Promote Competition and Stability -- Government Interventions in the Market -- Evaluation of interventions -- A canonical example of direct intervention: the credit guarantee scheme -- Political Economy of Access -- Conclusions -- Notes -- Data Appendix -- References -- Index -- Back Cover.