New working paper: "Eliminating Entry Barriers for the Provision of Banking Services: Evidence from 'Banking Correspondents' in Brazil." Read the findings.

New working paper: "Information, Networks and Informal Insurance: Evidence from a Lab Experiment in the Field." Read the findings.

CFSP Faculty Director Robert M. Townsend was awarded the 2011 Jean-Jacques Laffont Prize in economics. Learn more

Ten CFSP researchers presented and participated in the American Economics Association Annual Meeting in January 2012.  View their list of presentations here.

"When the original IMF organizers met in Bretton Woods, it was to get the world in order, and with that they meant post-war Europe and the United States. There was a clear disregard for developing countries. We came here today to do just the opposite."  Read more about the CFSP workshop.

Core Mission

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The Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty (CFSP) is a private research organization of leading and emerging economists. Our goal is to improve the lives of the world’s poor and to reduce poverty through helping to identify, define and develop efficient financial systems. We strive to generate tangible and objective results that have meaningful lessons for policymakers, researchers and stakeholders.