The Future Of Microfinance

Download or read book The Future of Microfinance written by Ira W. Lieberman and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 493 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major source of financing for the poor and no longer a niche industry Over the past four decades, microfinance—the provision of loans, savings, and insurance to small businesses and entrepreneurs shut out of traditional capital markets—has grown from a niche service in Bangladesh and a few other countries to a significant global source of financing. Some 200 million people globally now receive support from microfinance institutions, with most of the recipients in the developing world. In the beginning, much of the microfinance industry was managed by non-governmental organizations, but today the majority of these institutions are commercial and regulated by governments, and they provide safe places for the poor to save, as well as offering much-needed capital and other financial services. Now out of infancy, the microfinance industry faces major challenges, including its ability to deal with mobile banking and other technology and concerns that some markets are now over-saturated with microfinance. How the industry deals with these and other challenges will determine whether it will continue to grow or will be subsumed within the larger global financial sector. This book is based on the results of a workshop at Lehigh University among thirty-four leaders in the industry. The editors, working with contributions from more than a dozen leading authorities in the field, tell the important story of how microfinance developed, how it has met the needs of hundreds of millions of people, and they address key questions about how it can continue to meet those needs in the future.

Download or read book Microfinance Handbook written by Joanna Ledgerwood and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998-12-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of the 'Microfinance Handbook' is to bring together in a single source guiding principles and tools that will promote sustainable microfinance and create viable institutions.

Download or read book The Microfinance Revolution written by Marguerite Robinson and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2001-06-01 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Around the world, a revolution is occurring in finance for low-income people. The microfinance revolution is delivering financial services to the economically active poor on a large scale through competing, financially self-sufficient institutions. In a few countries this has already happened; in others it is under way. The emerging microfinance industry has profound implications for social and economic development. For the first time in history, capital is well on its way to being democratized. 'The Microfinance Revolution', in three volumes, is aimed at a diverse readership - economists, bankers, policymakers, donors, and social scientists; microfinance practitioners and specialists in local finance and rural and urban development; and members of the general public interested in development. This first volume, 'Sustainable Finance for the Poor', focuses on the shift from government- and donor-subsidized credit systems to self-sufficient microfinance institutions providing voluntary savings and credit services.

Download or read book Microfinance written by Suresh Sundaresan and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: . . . a valuable resource that traces the changes in the microfinance sector from its origin until now. . . The book will serve as a good reference point for future debate in these areas. Microfinance Insights In 2006 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Muhammad Yunus for his work on microfinance, dramatically changing attitudes towards capital markets. Suresh Sundaresan has assembled an impressive set of scholars and practitioners in this book to bring together recent practical innovations and policy questions in the realm of microfinance. The contributions emphasize practical solutions to problems facing the field by examining capital markets, providing a framework for thinking about regulation, and raising questions about gender empowerment. They examine recent developments in the field, research findings, and the challenges that lie ahead. This book takes a solid step toward a systematic analysis of the implications of microfinance for the role and regulation of capital markets. The authors address integration of capital markets with microfinance, technological innovations such as the use of mobile phone technology, the consequences of women s access to micro-loan borrowings, and the regulatory challenges and opportunities emerging as the landscape of microfinance dramatically evolves. Practitioners, policy makers, and academics in the fields of developmental economics, finance, gender studies and public and development policy will enjoy this analytically rigorous work.

Download or read book The Economics of Microfinance, second edition written by Beatriz Armendariz and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2010-04-23 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An accessible analysis of the global expansion of financial markets in poor communities, incorporating the latest thinking and evidence. The microfinance revolution has allowed more than 150 million poor people around the world to receive small loans without collateral, build up assets, and buy insurance. The idea that providing access to reliable and affordable financial services can have powerful economic and social effects has captured the imagination of policymakers, activists, bankers, and researchers around the world; the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize went to microfinance pioneer Muhammed Yunis and Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. This book offers an accessible and engaging analysis of the global expansion of financial markets in poor communities. It introduces readers to the key ideas driving microfinance, integrating theory with empirical data and addressing a range of issues, including savings and insurance, the role of women, impact measurement, and management incentives. This second edition has been updated throughout to reflect the latest data. A new chapter on commercialization describes the rapid growth in investment in microfinance institutions and the tensions inherent in the efforts to meet both social and financial objectives. The chapters on credit contracts, savings and insurance, and gender have been expanded substantially; a new section in the chapter on impact measurement describes the growing importance of randomized controlled trials; and the chapter on managing microfinance offers a new perspective on governance issues in transforming institutions. Appendixes and problem sets cover technical material.

Download or read book Why Doesn't Microfinance Work? written by Milford Bateman and published by Zed Books Ltd.. This book was released on 2010-06-10 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since its emergence in the 1970s, microfinance has risen to become one of the most high-profile policies to address poverty in developing and transition countries. It is beloved of rock stars, movie stars, royalty, high-profile politicians and ‘troubleshooting’ economists. In this provocative and controversial analysis, Milford Bateman reveals that microfinance doesn’t actually work. In fact, the case for it has been largely built on hype, on egregious half-truths and – latterly – on the Wall Street-style greed of those promoting and working in microfinance. Using a multitude of case studies, from India to Cambodia, Bolivia to Uganda, Serbia to Mexico, Bateman demonstrates that microfi nance actually constitutes a major barrier to sustainable economic and social development, and thus also to sustainable poverty reduction. As developing and transition countries attempt to repair the devastation wrought by the global financial crisis, Why Doesn’t Microfinance Work? argues forcefully that the role of microfinance in development policy urgently needs to be reconsidered.

Download or read book Introduction To Microfinance written by Todd A Watkins and published by World Scientific Publishing Company. This book was released on 2018-04-05 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.