Introduction : enfolding the poor -- Entrepreneurship and work at the "bottom of the pyramid"--Social banking to financial inclusion -- The reluctant moneylender -- The domestication of microfinance -- Financial risk and the moral economy of credit -- Insured death, precarious life
The book emphasizes the importance of studying the local context, and then considering the macroeconomic factors which may be operating upon the economy of a particular country. Five extended case studies, in the Gambia, Ecuador, Mexico, Pakistan, and the UK are examined with reference to further aspects of sustainability and impact assessment.
According to the author, rather than alleviating poverty, microfinance financialises poverty. By indebting poor people in the Global South, it drives financial expansion and opens new lands of opportunity for the crisis-ridden global capital markets. This book raises fundamental concerns about this widely-celebrated tool for social development.
The attempt of the Grameen Bank to alleviate poverty and enhance the skills and productivity of its rural women clients provides the fascinating backdrop to this important study of micro-credit institutions. Tazul Islam examines the real extent to which the Grameen Bank's credit-alone policy has been successful in securing the Bank's financial sustainability; its practical role in alleviating poverty and its actual impact on the productivity of its clients. This book concludes by considering alternative policy options that hold out the possibility of increased poverty alleviation.
The idea that small loans can help poor families build businesses and exit poverty has blossomed into a global movement. The concept has captured the public imagination, drawn in billions of dollars, reached millions of customers, and garnered a Nobel Prize. Radical in its suggestion that the poor are creditworthy and conservative in its insistence on individual accountability, the idea has expanded beyond credit into savings, insurance, and money transfers, earning the name microfinance. But is it the boon so many think it is? Readers of David Roodman's openbook blog will immediately recognize his thorough, straightforward, and trenchant analysis. Due Diligence, written entirely in public with input from readers, probes the truth about microfinance to guide governments, foundations, investors, and private citizens who support financial services for poor people. In particular, it explains the need to deemphasize microcredit in favor of other financial services for the poor.
The social and economic systems of any country are influenced by a range of factors including income and education. As such, it is vital to examine how these factors are creating opportunities to improve both the economy and the lives of people within these countries. Socio-Economic Development: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications provides a critical look at the process of social and economic transformation based on environmental and cultural factors including income, skills development, employment, and education. Highlighting a range of topics such as economics, social change, and e-governance, this multi-volume book is designed for policymakers, practitioners, city-development planners, academicians, government officials, and graduate-level students interested in emerging perspectives on socio-economic development.
Microfinance has grown from the obscure efforts of a few philanthropic institutions into a global industry that reaches 150-200 million clients through the branches of thousands of institutions. Microfinance has matured from exclusively funding loans to providing savings, insurance, healthcare, and education. Yet many people still think of it narrowly as microcredit. Understanding remains thin of what the industry does, how it functions and why.Introduction to Microfinance provides a non-technical introduction to the broad array of inclusive financial and non-financial services for the world's poor. It explores the financial lives of those families, and the microfinance institutions and rapidly growing industry that serve them. Written in close collaboration with college students for college students, under the auspices of one of the US's leading undergraduate programs in microfinance, it is the first-ever introductory college textbook about microfinance.What is microfinance? What are its methods and why? Does it work? What are its prospects and challenges? Why is it controversial? This book tackles these questions and more.
Beyond Micro-Credit sets out how Indian Micro-Finance Initiatives are combining micro-finance with a wide range of development goals, these include not only poverty alleviation through providing savings, credit and insurance services but also promoting livelihoods, empowering women, building people's organizations and changing institutions.