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Summary and outline
February 17, 2009
Here are a short pitch and a working outline for my book. I will hotlink this entry to chapter drafts as I post them. You can also find drafts via the “Contents” list on the right margin of the blog home page.
Microfinance is a remarkable phenomenon in the world of economic development. It blends the visual appeal of smiling women with the market-oriented ethos of entrepreneurship. At once radical in its suggestion that the poor are creditworthy and conservative in its insistence on individual accountability, microcredit has attracted billions of dollars from governments, private donors, and, increasingly, the capital markets. Its success in delivering savings, lending, and other financial services to millions of poor people has generated interest and excitement among donors large and small. But critics say the excitement is so much hype, that small loans rarely transform lives, and that debt is dangerous. And the microfinance movement is split by dissent. After the Mexican company Compartamos pulled in hundreds of millions of dollars going public in 2007, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh decried their practice of charging the poor nearly 100% interest per annum as moneylending, not microfinance.
The book will probe many dimensions of microfinance, in order to find a firm foundation to judge its successes and failures and guide governments, foundations, investors, and private citizens contemplating whether and how to support financial services for poor people. While avoiding jargon, it will explore the history, impacts, ethics, and politics of microfinance.
Chapter drafts are posted in Microsoft Word (.docx) and Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) formats.
Chapter 1. Introduction and overview (.docx .pdf)
Chapter 2. How the Other Half Finances (.docx .pdf)
What rich and poor people use financial services for; how the poor manage money; how the financial system supports overall economic development.
Chapter 3. Credit History (.docx .pdf)
Deep history of financial services for the masses, from credit groups in ancient Athens to cooperatives in Germany in the 19th century to the small loan business in America of the 1920s.
Chapter 4. Background Check (.docx .pdf)
Stories of Yunus and other innovators who made microfinance what it is today; survey of current microfinance landscape by the numbers.
Chapter 5. Microfinance as Business (.docx .pdf)
How the need to break even, combined with an evolutionary perspective, explains much about the way microfinance is done today.
Chapter 6. Development as Poverty Reduction (.docx and .pdf)
An informed, critical look at the literature on the impact of microcredit.
Chapter 7. Development as Freedom (.docx and .pdf)
A look at microfinance through Amartya Sen’s notion of development as freedom. How much does it give the poor new options vs. entrapping them in debt? How do we think about the ancient yet live question of “usury”?
Chapter 8. Development as Industry Building (.docx and .pdf)
A look at microfinance growth as a force for enriching the institutional fabric of society.
Chapter 9. The Effects of Causes
A look at the selling of microfinance and what it says about how we aid development.
Chapter 9. Implications (.docx and .pdf)
Implications for how microfinance is supported. Implications of the success of microfinance for other domains.
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4 Comments on “Summary and outline”
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February 27th, 2009 at 11:43 am
David, congratulations on this very promising enterprise! I’m flattered that you would ask me to comment, since my background in microfinance is less than nil. All I can contribute is a stylistic remark here and there, like the following:
The sentence beginning “It blends the visual appeal of smiling women with…” doesn’t give the reader much of a specific image to hold on to. Perhaps you mean something like “It blends the visual appeal of smiling women at work in their co-op with…” However, grammarians and stylists like myself are used to the reaction “Get a life!”, so I’ll refrain from such comments unless you express a dire need for them. Meanwhile, best of luck! ~ Bill
February 27th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Why women only?
Maybe you could devote a chapter to the gender issue. Many books and discussion about microfinance point out how microfinance is also a good project in helping women and their role as financial pivotal points in the community.
It is also often reported how about 80, 90, percent or more of individuals who participate in microfinance are women. I think it would be interesting and needed to have a book that finally addresses the possible problem of de facto excluding men form access to microfinance projects, and the potential for an unbalanced, sexually biased, and therefore unfair development of the microfinance industry.
March 2nd, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Microfinance- I heard your recent discussion on the Kojo Nnamdi show on WAMU. It was an interesting discussion, and one I am very interested in, from a personal perspective. I look forward to watching the progress, and sharing some thoughts- specifically regarding Chapter 7- Freedom.
September 16th, 2009 at 7:54 am
The follwoing two chapters may be considered
1. The chemistry of Micro finance – The integration of various MF inputs ( micro credit , micro savings, micro insurance, and other financial and non financial services) depending on the need in different stages of poverty at household level in poverty segments ) and the role of MFIs
2.The Ethics of Micro finance. – priority for more vulnerable poor, pro poor designing products and services and processing, human resources development and capacity building, counselling and guidance , social capital building , community participation, social audit etc