Category: Microfinance

Microfinance, American style: Part 2, the good

27 October, 2009 (10:43) | Capital markets, Finance, Innovations, Microfinance, Regulation, Subprime, Theory, US News | No comments

By: David A. Smith
 
[Continued from yesterday's Part 1.]
 
Yesterday’s post opened the topic of payday lending as exploitive microfinance, designed not to maximize the borrower’s well-being but rather to hold that borrower on the razor’s edge of permanent default, as illustrated by this article from the Washington Post:
 
Meanwhile, big companies are muscling into a sector that [...]

Microfinance, American style: Part 1, the bad

26 October, 2009 (12:13) | Capital markets, Finance, Innovations, Microfinance, Regulation, Subprime, Theory, US News | No comments

By: David A. Smith
 
In business, does motivation matter?  Or are markets sufficiently rational that our apologias are meaningless, and we should be judged exclusively by our actions?  This philosophical question lies submerged under every new lender and loan product, for every action – extending or denying credit, charging too high a rate – can be [...]

The dark side of the moon

17 July, 2009 (10:09) | BoP, Global news, Microfinance, Nepal, Qatar, Remittances, Theory | No comments

We just want to help you, here in the employment zone
 
As the world globalizes information – which also implies globalizing capital – we observe a mobility of labor unprecedented in global history.  With that labor mobility comes the ebb and flow of people and money – people moving to cities to earn money, then sending [...]

Great posts by other (GPBO) 01: Introducing a new series

7 July, 2009 (11:13) | Atlantic Yards, Cities, GPBO, Home asset finance, India, Microfinance, Norman Oder, Speculation | 1 comment

Because information wants to be free, blogs are all about sharing, so from time to time I’ll post these potpourri columns of Great Posts By Others, featuring thought-provoking posts and our reactions thereto.

We seek out new posts and new inspiration

1.1 Atlantic Yards Report

Ever since I first encountered [...]

Microfinance and the housing value chain: Part 2, tweak what you do now

12 September, 2008 (08:29) | Education, Global, Housing, Innovations, Microfinance, Primer Posts | No comments

Yesterday’s post on my experience teaching a brand-new course, Mortgages for the Poor; An Overview of Products and Supporting Infrastructure at the world-famous Boulder Microfinance Training Program (MFT), brought us to the point of wanting to follow the customer. 

Whoever gets the customer first, wins!
 
The MFI customer needs and wants a housing-finance product, because traditional microfinance [...]