I just finished reading The Economics of Microfinance by Beatriz Armendariz and Jonathan Morduch. My knowledge of microfinance is limited, so it was a good introduction to some of the issues involved with getting credit to the poor and evaluating the effects. Some parts are a little technical, but overall its a good, accessable description of why we care.
While reading it I kept thinking back to a blog post from Rachel Strohm where she quotes her father saying that microloans are more like credit cards in that people use them to smooth over their consumption and have something in case of emergency.
Interest rates may be high, and the effect on poverty is mixed, but they offer flexibility that many people sorely need.
A short bio
- Nathan Fiala
- Washington, DC, United States
- I am a consultant with the World Bank in DC and a recent PhD graduate of economics at the University of California, Irvine. My research is on conflict and post-conflict development, and the economic impact of the environment and environmental change. I am currently working on a randomized impact evaluation for the World Bank in the post-conflict area of northern Uganda.
>> My website with my research
>> My field research blog
1 comment:
Hi Nathan,
Somehow I didn't get a trackback when you linked to my post on microfinance & credit cards, but I just saw your post, and was glad to see that you thought mine interesting. Do you plan to continue posting at Uganda Impact Evaluation? I enjoyed reading about your work there, and would love to continue hearing about the evaluation's progress. (The post on microenterprise profits was particularly interesting - it's a question that more people need to be asking.)
Cheers,
Rachel
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