Introduction and overview : an inquiry into the mismatch in microfinance / Beatriz Armendáriz and Marc Labie -- Part I. Understanding microfinance practices -- Microfinance evaluation strategies : notes on methodology and findings / Dean Karlan and Nathanael Goldberg -- Spanning the chasm : uniting theory and empirics in microfinance research / Greg Fischer and Maitreesh Ghatak -- The early German credit cooperatives and microfinance organizations today : similarities and differences / Timothy W. Guinnane -- Understanding the diversity and complexity of demand for microfinance services : lessons from informal finance / Isabelle Guérin, Solène Morvant-Roux and Jean-Michel Servet -- Ethics in microfinance / Marek Hudon -- Part II. understanding microfinance's macro-environment and organization context -- Microfinance trade-offs : regulation, competition and financing / Robert Cull, Asli Demirgüc̜-Kunt and Jonathan Morduch -- Oversight is a many-splendored thing : choice and proportionality in regulating and supervising microfinance institutions / Jay K. Rosengard -- The performance of microfinance institutions : do macro conditions matter? / Niels Hermes and Aljar Meesters -- Microfinance in Bolivia : foundation of the growth, outreach and stability of the financial system / Claudio Gonzalez-Vega and Marcelo Villafani-Ibarnegaray -- Microfinance : a strategic management framework / Guy Stuart -- What external control mechanisms help microfinance institutions meet the needs of marginal clientele? / Valentina Hartarska and Denis Nadolnyak -- Corporate governance challenges in microfinance / Marc Labie and Roy Mersland -- Part III. Current trends toward commercialization -- Corporate responsibility versus social performance and financial inclusion / Jean-Michel Servet -- The importance of the link between socially responsible investors and microfinance institutions / Erna Karrer-Rüedi -- On mission drift in microfinance institutions / Beatriz Armendáriz and Ariane Szafarz -- Social investment in microfinance : the trade-off between risk, return and outreach to the poor / Rients Galema and Robert Lensink -- Efficiency / Marek Hudon and Bernd Balkenhol -- Social and financial efficiency of microfinance institutions / Carlos Serrano-Cinca, Begoña Gutiérrez-Nieto and Cecilio Mar Molinero -- Part IV. Meeting unmet demand : the challenge of financing agriculture -- Is microfinance the adequate tool to finance agriculture? / Solène Morvant-Roux -- What is the demand for microcredit? : the case of rural areas in Serbia / William Parienté -- Rural microfinance and agricultural value chains : strategies and perspectives of the Fondo de Desarrollo Local in Nicaragua / Johan Bastiaensen and Peter Marchetti -- Part V. Meeting unment demand : savings, insurance and aiming at the ultra poor -- Women and microsavings / Beatriz Armendáriz -- Boosting the poor's capacity to save : a note on instalment plans and their variants / Stuart Rutherford -- Insurance for the poor : definitions and innovations / Craig Churchill -- Reaching the people whom microfinance cannot reach : learning from BRAC's "targeting the ultra poor" programme / David Hulme, Karen Moore and Kazi Faisal Bin Seraj -- Part VI. Meeting unmet demand : gender and education -- The gender of finance and lessons for microfinance / Isabelle Guérin -- Taking gender seriously : towards a gender justice protocol for financial services / Linda Mayoux -- Higher education through microfinance : the case of Grameen Bank / Asif U. Dowla.