The Poor and their Money
Microfinance from a twenty-first century consumer's perspective
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. The book’s clarity and avoidance of jargon make it appealing not only to microfinance students and practitioners, but to general readers as well.
Published: 2009
Pages: 144
eBook: 9781780440378
Paperback: 9781853396885
Prelims (Praise for The Poor and Their Money, Contents, Figures, Tables, Foreword by Elizabeth Littlefield, Preface, Acknowledgements) | |||
---|---|---|---|
1. The need to save | |||
2. Three ways to save | |||
3. Informal devices: ROSCAs and ASCAs | |||
4. Informal services: managers and providers | |||
5. Welcoming new partners | |||
6. Financial lives | |||
Back Matter (Notes, References, Index) |
Stuart Rutherford
Stuart Rutherford is Senior Visiting Fellow, Institute of Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester.
Sukhwinder Arora Sukhwinder Arora is Senior Consultant, Financial and Private Sector Development, Oxford Policy Management Ltd, Oxford.
Handbook of Research on Acceleration Programs for SMEs
Community-Based Savings Groups
Silva, Berta Arsénio
Santos, Márcia
2022
https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-5666-8.ch016 [Citations: 0]La finance autrement ?
Chapitre 6. Pourquoi l’impact du microcrédit sur la réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique subsaharienne est-il limité ?
Servet, Jean-Michel
2015
https://doi.org/10.4000/books.septentrion.8287 [Citations: 2]Le Maroc au présent
L’état de l’économie marocaine : un potentiel de développement réel mais contraint
Mourji, Fouzi
Masmoudi, Hicham
2015
https://doi.org/10.4000/books.cjb.1139 [Citations: 0]Financial Inclusion - G20 Initiatives and the Role of the Bank of Italy
Gomel, Giorgio
Bernasconi, Fabio
Cartechini, Margherita Laura
Fucile, Veronica
Settimo, Riccardo
Staiano, Roberto
(2011)
https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1968915 [Citations: 0]La pobreza como categoría moral. Por qué la riqueza no es suficiente para dejar de ser pobre
Absi, Pascale
(2015) P.415
https://doi.org/10.4000/bifea.7675 [Citations: 2]Credit as Coping: Rethinking Microcredit in the Cambodian Context
Bylander, Maryann
Oxford Development Studies, Vol. 43 (2015), Iss. 4 P.533
https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2015.1064880 [Citations: 59]Protocol for a Systematic Review: Saving Promotion Interventions for Improving Saving Behaviour and Reducing Poverty in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis
Steinert, Janina Isabel
Movsisyan, Ani
Zenker, Juliane
Filipiak, Ute
Shenderovich, Yulia
Campbell Systematic Reviews, Vol. 12 (2016), Iss. 1 P.1
https://doi.org/10.1002/CL2.157 [Citations: 0]The Financial Resilience and Life Satisfaction Nexus of Indigenous Australians*
Jayasinghe, Maneka
Selvanathan, Eliyathamby A.
Selvanathan, Saroja
Economic Papers: A journal of applied economics and policy, Vol. 39 (2020), Iss. 4 P.336
https://doi.org/10.1111/1759-3441.12296 [Citations: 17]An innovative resilience approach: Financial self-help groups in contemporary financial landscapes in the Netherlands
Lehmann, Julie-Marthe
Smets, Peer
Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, Vol. 52 (2020), Iss. 5 P.898
https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19882946 [Citations: 4]Integrating Saving into Microenterprise Programs for the Poor: Do Institutions Matter?
Ssewamala, Fred M.
Sherraden, Michael
Social Service Review, Vol. 78 (2004), Iss. 3 P.404
https://doi.org/10.1086/421919 [Citations: 45]Can the poor organize? Public goods and self-help groups in rural India
Desai, Raj M.
Olofsgård, Anders
World Development, Vol. 121 (2019), Iss. P.33
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.04.009 [Citations: 10]Informal borrowing sources and uses: insights from the North West Region, Cameroon
Ojong, Nathanael
Third World Quarterly, Vol. 40 (2019), Iss. 9 P.1730
https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2018.1460201 [Citations: 13]Understanding Effects of Flexible Spending Accounts on People with Disabilities: The Case of a Consumer-Directed Care Program
Lombe, Margaret
Inoue, Megumi
Mahoney, Kevin
Chu, Yoosun
Putnam, Michelle
Journal of Social Work in Disability & Rehabilitation, Vol. 15 (2016), Iss. 1 P.62
https://doi.org/10.1080/1536710X.2016.1124255 [Citations: 4]Scripting development through formalization: accounting for the diffusion of village savings and loans associations in Tanzania
Green, Maia
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 25 (2019), Iss. 1 P.103
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12966 [Citations: 10]Entrepreneurship in South America
Shadow Banking Services for Entrepreneurs
Dlabay, Les
2022
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97060-4_15 [Citations: 0]Variations of Rotating Savings and Credit Associations for Community Development
Zambrano, Andres Felipe
Giraldo, Luis Felipe
Perdomo, Monica Tatiana
Hernández, Iván Darío
Godoy, Jesús María
IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems, Vol. 10 (2023), Iss. 2 P.614
https://doi.org/10.1109/TCSS.2022.3167266 [Citations: 0]Linking mobile money networks to “e-ROSCAs”: An experimental study
Francois, Patrick
Squires, Munir
Science Advances, Vol. 7 (2021), Iss. 1
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abc5831 [Citations: 5]Learning and savings groups in Bangladesh: an alternative model for transforming families and communities
Marsden, John
Marsden, Kate
Rahman, Mizanur
Danz, Tim
Danz, Andrea
Wilson, Paul
Development in Practice, Vol. 30 (2020), Iss. 1 P.52
https://doi.org/10.1080/09614524.2019.1631259 [Citations: 4]Rethinking Financial Inclusion: from Access to Autonomy
Muralidhar, Srihari Hulikal
Bossen, Claus
O’Neill, Jacki
Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Vol. 28 (2019), Iss. 3-4 P.511
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10606-019-09356-x [Citations: 26]CREDIT UNIONS AS CONDUITS FOR MICROFINANCE DELIVERY IN CAMEROON
OJONG, Nathanael
Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Vol. 85 (2014), Iss. 2 P.287
https://doi.org/10.1111/apce.12041 [Citations: 7]Rwandan Economy at the Crossroads of Development
An Analysis of Savings Among Rural Poor Households in Rwanda
Maniriho, Aristide
Musabanganji, Edouard
Lebailly, Philippe
2020
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5046-1_2 [Citations: 1]Reviews and resources
Rich Rosenberg, Rich Rosenberg
Isabelle Guérin, Isabelle Guérin
Enterprise Development & Microfinance, Vol. 20 (2009), Iss. 4 P.327
https://doi.org/10.3362/1755-1986.2009.036 [Citations: 0]You Can’t Save Alone: Commitment in Rotating Savings and Credit Associations in Kenya
Gugerty, Mary Kay
Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 55 (2007), Iss. 2 P.251
https://doi.org/10.1086/508716 [Citations: 172]A Study of Codes of Ethics for Mexican Microfinance Institutions
Kleynjans, Lauren
Hudon, Marek
Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 134 (2016), Iss. 3 P.397
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2434-y [Citations: 22]Microfinance challenges: empowerment or disempowerment of the poor?
References Part 2
2005
https://doi.org/10.4000/books.ifp.5754 [Citations: 0]Urban microfinance and urban poverty in Bangladesh
Bashar, Toriqul
Rashid, Salim
Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Vol. 17 (2012), Iss. 1 P.151
https://doi.org/10.1080/13547860.2012.640019 [Citations: 15]Microfinance challenges: empowerment or disempowerment of the poor?
References Part 3
2005
https://doi.org/10.4000/books.ifp.5760 [Citations: 0]Has Microfinance Lost its Moral Compass?
Hulme, David
Maitrot, Mathilde
(2014)
https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2560331 [Citations: 7]Continued Existence of Cows Disproves Central Tenets of Capitalism?
Anagol, Santosh
Etang, Alvin
Karlan, Dean
Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 65 (2017), Iss. 4 P.583
https://doi.org/10.1086/692165 [Citations: 14]