Fighting poverty with microcredit : experience in Bangladesh

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Title:

Author:

Khandker, Shahidur R.

ISBN:

9780195211214

Personal Author:

Khandker, Shahidur R.

Publication Information:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1998.

Physical Description:

xii, 228 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.

General Note:

Published for the World Bank.

Contents:

1. Poverty Alleviation and Microcredit Programs -- 2. The Evolution of Microcredit Programs in Bangladesh -- 3. Socioeconomic Impacts of Microcredit Programs -- 4. Growth Potential of Activities Financed through Microcredit -- 5. Institutional and Financial Viability of Microcredit Programs -- 6. Microcredit Programs and Rural Financial Markets -- 7. Cost-Effectiveness of Alternative Poverty Alleviation Programs -- 8. Conclusions and Policy Implications: What Have We Learned? -- App. A. Statistical Tables -- App. B. Description of the Sample Used in the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies-World Bank 1991/92 Survey -- App. C. Evaluating Microcredit Programs -- App. D. Resolving the Problem of Endogeneity in Estimating the Impact of Credit.

Abstract:

Providing microcredit to the poor has become an important antipoverty scheme in many countries. Microcredit helps the poor become self-employed and thus generates income and reduces poverty. Are these programs cost-effective? This book addresses the question, drawing on the experiences of the well-known microcredit programs of Bangladesh's Grameen Bank, the Rural Development-12 project, and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee. It examines the cost-effectiveness of microcredit programs vis-a-vis other antipoverty programs, such as Food-for-Work.

Subject Term:

Microfinance -- Bangladesh.

Microfinance.

Added Corporate Author:

World Bank.

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168023661222	332.7 K45F 1998	1	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

With increasing assistance from the World Bank and other donors, microfinance is emerging as an instrument for reducing poverty and improving the poor's access to financial services in low-income countries. Providing the poor with access to financial services is one of many ways to help increase their incomes and productivity. In many countries, however, traditional financial institutions have failed to provide this service. Microcredit and cooperative programs fill this gap. They provide credit through social mechanisms such as group-based lending to reach the poor and other clients, including women, who lack access to formal financial institutions. Their purpose is to help the poor become self-employed and thus escape poverty. This book examines the experiences of the Grameen Bank, the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, and the Bangladesh Rural Development Board's Rural Development Project-12 in order to quantify the potential and limitations of microcredit programs as an instrument for reducing poverty and delivering financial services to the poor.A copublication of the World Bank and Oxford University Press.