Category: India

Month in Review: August, 2012: Part 2, Chasing the green

12 October, 2012 (09:20) | Boston, Capital markets, China, Galveston, India, informality, Municipal bankruptcy, New York City, Non-Profits, NYCHA, Public housing, Redevelopment, Remittances, Subprime, Vouchers, Workouts |

[Continued from yesterday's Part 1.]   [Previous Months in Review available here: Jul 12, Jun 12, May 12, Apr 12, Mar 12, Feb 12, Jan 12.]   By:David A. Smith   Remember how much good there is in us   Yesterday’s review of August’s posts picked out those looking at browned-out urban environments from Newark [...]

Month in Review: August, 2012: Part 1, Upgrading the brown

11 October, 2012 (15:04) | Boston, Capital markets, China, Galveston, India, informality, Month in review, Municipal bankruptcy, New York City, Non-Profits, NYCHA, Public housing, Redevelopment, Remittances, Subprime, Vouchers, Workouts |

[Previous Months in Review available here: July 12, Jun 12, May 12, Apr 12, Mar 12, Feb 12, Jan 12.]   By:David A. Smith   Remember how much good there is in us   Amid all the gloomy economic news, it’s pleasing now and then to lead with an urban revival story that is both [...]

From black market to black out

20 August, 2012 (13:35) | Cities, Electricity, India, informality, Infrastructure, Utilities |

By:David A. Smith   As much as I explore informality in housing and urban enterprise, readers might conclude that I celebrate it uncritically, but any form of informality has enormous costs, and not just on the informal society, as demonstrated by a recent article from the Christian Science Monitor:   A two-day blackout for half [...]

Battle for the soul of microfinance: Part 4, what profit a man?

20 March, 2012 (09:04) | Andhra Pradesh, Housing, India, Lending, MEEs, Microfinance, Non-Profits, Organizations, Theory |

[Continued from yesterday's Part 3 and the preceding Part 2 and Part 1.]   By: David A. Smith   As we’ve seen in previous parts of this post, it was bad enough for microfinance that in late 2010 a political firestorm broke in Andhra Pradesh stemming from allegations of borrowers being driven to suicide by unscrupulous for-profit debt [...]

Battle for the soul of microfinance: Part 3, just as sin entered the world

19 March, 2012 (09:29) | Andhra Pradesh, Housing, India, Lending, MEEs, Microfinance, Non-Profits, Organizations, Theory |

[Continued from Friday's Part 2 and the preceding Part 1.]   By:David A. Smith   A year and a half ago, the business of microfinance in India imploded after incendiary newspaper stories implied that loan collectors were driving borrowers to suicide.    In this photo taken Feb. 14, 2012, Sunita, 22, right, and her daughter Shwetha, [...]