Abstract

A majority of the world's impoverished lack adequate access to fi nancial services. Typically, formal banks do not target the poor because lending without collateral is considered too risky. Poor households seeking credit are subsequently forced into informal markets where the prices are high, the quantities limited, and the methods of insuring repayment can be brutal.

Citation

Field, Erica, Abraham Holland, and Rohini Pande. "Microfinance: Points of Promise." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP16-036, September 2014.