Over the last thirty years or so, microfinance has risen to become one of the most high-profile policies to address poverty and under-development. in developing and transition countries. It is beloved of rock stars, royalty, movie stars, high profile politicians and `trouble-shooting`...

This article argues that the microfinance model that arrived in Latin America in the 1970s has proven, as elsewhere around the world, to be an almost wholly destructive economic and social policy intervention. Centrally, I argue that the microfinance model is responsible for embedding and giving...

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...

This paper describes how many countries in East Asia established from 1945 onwards a very successful local financial system, starting with Japan. These local financial systems played a key role in bringing about the so-called 'East Asian miracle'. From the 1980s onwards, however, many East Asian...

The contemporary model of microfinance has its roots in a small local experiment in Bangladesh in the early 1970s undertaken by Dr Muhammad Yunus, the US-educated Bangladeshi economist and future 2006 Nobel Peace Prize co-recipient. Yunus's idea of supporting tiny informal microenterprises and...