According to a new research by Arun Chandrasekhar and Matthew Jackson of Stanford and Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo of MIT, penetration rates of microfinance programs in Indian villages range from 7% to 44% depending on who in the village was initially told about the program. Thus, a program’s success may depend on the how many friends the person first contacted has, or how well connected (s)he may be in the village. Read more here.