Microfinance
Subprime Loans and Race Inequality
The NYTimes finds a clear link between subprime lending and race inequality in America, suggesting even in developing countries the availability of credit, by itself, is no solution to poverty.
Microfinance Misses its Mark
In a comprehensive article on the reputed Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), Aneel Karnani debunks all the hoopla surrounding microfinance. His conclusion is clear - “microfinance doesn’t cure poverty.”
The Business of Poverty: How Low-Income Credit is Dangerous
BusinessWeek recently ran a cover story on The Poverty Business: Inside U.S. companies audacious drive to extract more profit from the nation’s working poor. This is not a publication that has said much against microfinance, yet if a case had to be made against our unbridled enthusiasm for it, the lead story would serve very […]
Evaluating Microfinance: CGD, IPA and other experiments
The CGD has a bunch of reports evaluating the impact of microfinance. The initiative is led by David Roodman, who authored the Microfinance as Business report (previously covered here). The article explains how their assessments are different:
Understanding how microfinance affects clients is not straightforward because there are several possible explanations for why, say, a borrower […]
A Talk by Mohammad Yunus: A Man Misunderstood
Today I heard a speech by Mohammad Yunus at FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) in New Delhi. He spoke for 35 minutes to a packed, standing crowd, interrupted only by the laughter of his jokes and the occasional rude cellphone.
I am compelled to write this (long) post, because I must recommend […]
Financial Inclusion in India: Trends Beyond Microfinance
I was recently in Bombay visiting a company that provides technology solutions to extend financial services to the poor, specifically to MFI clients of private Indian banks. It does this by providing smart cards for clients and a banking infrastructure for MFIs. The visit offered a perfect opportunity for me to understand the Indian banking […]
Marrying Microfinance with Microinsurance: Increasing Impact
The PSD blog talks about a BusinessWeek article on microinsurance in Mexico. Initial numbers seem to indicate that microinsurance policies are selling well. And it seems, microfinance is a good way to sell these policies.
“We are selling between 50,000 and 60,000 policies a week. We have insured 9 million Mexicans since Seguros Azteca was born […]
Microfinance: Not a Development Tool, Then What?
I came across an interesting, and contrarian view on the Nobel Peace prize of 2006. Richard Posner writes on the Gary & Posner Blog, questioning the real link between poverty and peace. While his criticism of the Peace Prize itself is slight, Posner presents some new arguments against microfinance, to explain why ‘It may simply […]
