The Poor and their Money: Microfinance from a twenty-first century consumer's perspective - Softcover

Rutherford, Stuart

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853396885 ISBN 13: 9781853396885

Publisher: Practical Action Publishing, 2009

Synopsis

It is generally believed that microfinance revolution was led by NGOs, donor agencies, and more recently banks who offer poor people financial services. But what can we learn from the ways that poor people already manage their money? What are the essential elements that they prize so much that they are willing to pay high interest rates to money lenders, or spend time and energy setting up elaborate savings clubs? The Poor and Their Money emphasizes the pivotal role of savings in the lives of the poor, and in so doing overturns the common misconception that they are “too poor to save”.

Building on the huge acclaim that followed its first publication, the second edition of The Poor and Their Money brings readers up to date with microfinance developments in the twenty first century, including India’s self-help group movement, village banks, and microfinance on Wall Street. It also describes the most detailed accounts to date of poor people’s day-to-day financial strategies―their financial diaries.

The book’s clarity and lack of jargon make it appealing not only to microfinance students and practitioners, but to general readers as well.

About this title

Book Description

The microfinance revolution is usually considered to have been led by the NGOs, donor agencies, and more recently banks who offer poor people financial services. But what can we learn from the ways that poor people already manage their money? What are the essential elements that they prize so much that they are willing to pay high interest rates to money lenders, or spend time and energy setting up elaborate savings clubs? The Poor and Their Money emphasizes the pivotal role of savings in the lives of the poor, and in so doing overturns the common misconception that they are “too poor to save”.

Building on the huge acclaim that followed its first publication, the second edition of The Poor and Their Money brings readers up to date with microfinance developments in the twenty first century, including India’s self-help group movement, village banks, and microfinance on Wall Street. It also describes the most detailed accounts to date of poor people’s day-to-day financial strategies―their financial diaries.

About the Author

Stuart Rutherford is Senior visiting Fellow, Institute of Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester.

Edition details

• Publisher: Practical Action Publishing
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1853396885
• ISBN 13: 9781853396885
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 144
• Editor: Arora Sukhwinder