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With research staff from more than 70 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Lilia Bliznashka

Lily Bliznashka is a Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit. Her research focuses on assessing the effectiveness of multi-input nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific interventions and the mechanisms through which they work to improve maternal and child health and nutrition globally. She has worked in Burkina Faso, Burundi, Tanzania, and Uganda.

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Markets, Trade, and Institutions

Mohammad Riad Uddin

Research Analyst

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Bio

Mohammad Riad Uddin is a Research Analyst in the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Unit. His research interests include regional economic development, education policy, and agricultural economics. Prior to joining IFPRI, he worked as a consultant at the World Bank. Through his work at the World Bank and Innovations for Poverty Action, he gained experience in designing and implementing impact evaluation research using the randomized controlled trial (RCT) methods. He received his master’s degree in Economics from East West University, Bangladesh.

Markets, Trade, and Institutions

Publications

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Working Paper

Risk aversion and credit access: Solving financial exclusion through contract innovation

2026Ambler, Kate; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; de Brauw, Alan; Uddin, Mohammad Riad
Details

Risk aversion and credit access: Solving financial exclusion through contract innovation

Credit market failures may reflect voluntary withdrawal by risk-averse borrowers in addition to supply-side constraints. We conduct a randomized trial with 1,517 Bangladeshi households, offering cattle financing through conventional loans or profit-sharing contracts that spread risk between the farmer and the financial partner. Overall, interest in and take-up of the profit-sharing contracts were modestly higher than the conventional loans. However, conventional loan take-up was much lower among risk-averse farmers, and profit-sharing eliminated the take-up gap between risk-averse and non-risk-averse farmers. We find that it is male risk preferences that are associated with these decisions even when contracts explicitly target women. Livestock investment increases under both contracts with no evidence of moral hazard under profit-sharing.

Year published

2026

Authors

Ambler, Kate; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; de Brauw, Alan; Uddin, Mohammad Riad

Citation

Ambler, Kate; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; de Brauw, Alan; and Uddian, Mohammad Riad. 2026. Risk aversion and credit access: Solving financial exclusion through contract innovation. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2405. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181679

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Southern Asia; Asia; Gender; Credit; Financing; Livestock; Loans; Smallholders; Financial Innovation; Access to Finance; Risk; Risk Coping Strategies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Rethinking Food Markets

Record type

Working Paper

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

Show me the money! Experimental evidence on preferences for cash vs. digital payment

2025Ambler, Kate; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; Uddin, Mohammad Riad
Details

Show me the money! Experimental evidence on preferences for cash vs. digital payment

In places such as rural Bangladesh, cash is the dominant medium for payments despite potential benefits of digital payments. We offer survey respondents an incentive-compatible choice for compensation: 200 Taka cash or randomly varied mobile money amounts (200-400 Taka). Only eight percent chose digital payment at parity and respondents exhibit an average willingness-to-pay of 43 percent of the payment value to receive cash payment. This preference persists across demographics, including among mobile money account holders. Within-household analysis reveals that 77 percent of the effect stems from individual-level rather than household-level factors, highlighting the importance of demand-side barriers on digital payments.

Year published

2025

Authors

Ambler, Kate; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; Uddin, Mohammad Riad

Citation

Ambler, Kate; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; and Uddin, Mohammad Riad. 2025. Show me the money! Experimental evidence on preferences for cash vs. digital payment. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2385. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178890

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Rural Areas; Payment Agreements; Consumer Behaviour; Smartphones; Digital Technology; Willingness to Pay

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Evaluation of a livestock financing project in Bangladesh: Navigating operational, environmental, and behavioral challenges

2023Ambler, Kate; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; de Brauw, Alan; Uddin, Mohammad Riad
Details

Evaluation of a livestock financing project in Bangladesh: Navigating operational, environmental, and behavioral challenges

Smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries have limited access to finance, due to the pau city of banks and other financial institutions in rural areas. As a result, banks and other formal financial institutions tend not to know much about farming as a business, and therefore they hesitate to extend credit to farmers. Such reluctance is often attributed to the elevated costs and risks linked with small, geographically dispersed farms, as well as the farmers’ lack of collateral. Microfinance has emerged as a crucial intervention in bridging this gap. However, the fixed and rigid repayment structures of microfinance institutions (MFIs) often clash with the seasonal nature of agricultural production. This mismatch creates financial strain for farmers, who must manage cash flows that are inherently unpredictable due to factors like weather variability and market fluctuations. These challenges underscore the need for more flexible and tailored financial solutions.

Year published

2023

Authors

Ambler, Kate; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; de Brauw, Alan; Uddin, Mohammad Riad

Citation

Ambler, Kate; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; de Brauw, Alan; and Uddin, Mohammad Riad. 2023. Evaluation of a livestock financing project in Bangladesh: Navigating operational, environmental, and behavioral challenges. Rethinking Food Markets Initiative Note December 2023. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/135965

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Smallholders; Finance; Rural Areas; Farming; Mircofinance; Risk

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.137043 Source record

Project

Rethinking Food Markets

Record type

Brief