Is the Future of the Microfinance Movement to be Found on the Internet?

This paper will give a brief description of the microfinance movement and the growing current interest in microfinance/microcredit as a weapon in the fight against global poverty. Then two trends, the development of new sources of capital for the microfinance movement and the advent of social lending on the Internet will be outlined. Finally, the manner in which the intersection of these two trends might impact microfinance/microcredit is considered. This paper was presented at the 17th International Conference of the International Trade and Finance Association, Miami, Florida, May 16-20, 2007.