With the expansion of microfinance, criticism is mounting that loans for poor people without financial education can become a debt trap. How real is the threat?
Aneel Karnani at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business says despite its growing popularity, microcredit is not the best way to help poor countries out of poverty.
Microfinance institutions have lent billions to poor people worldwide. Now the global credit crunch has made lending money more expensive. But has it also affected the microfinance sector?
Business Week called it the "eBay of microfinance." The Wall Street Journal told readers they could now "act like a Noble Prize winner." Kiva.org has changed the face of microfinance by giving thousands of Internet users an easy way to loan money directly to entrepreneurs in the developing world.
In 1999 a team of researchers began following the financial lives of hundreds of poor households in Bangladesh, India and South Africa. After seven years, what have they found about how the poor earn, spend, save and insure?
Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank of Bangladesh were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in December for their pioneering work in microfinance. Grameen Foundation Chair Susan Davis talks about how Grameen has empowered millions of poor women.
Christina Barrineau, senior UN advisor for the International Year of Microcredit, talks about the new image of microfinance.
Peter Bladin, director of the Grameen Technology Center, discusses the importance of information technology in the expansion of microfinance and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Next year Germany takes over the presidency of both the G8 and European Union. Will Chancellor Angela Merkel's government use the opportunity to steer the international community's attention to the issues of climate change and poverty?
Interview with Bob Annibale, head of the Citigroup Microfinance Group, about how and why microfinance is assuming a greater role in the business operations of the largest bank in the world.
