Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/19248 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2004
Series/Report no.: 
HWWA Discussion Paper No. 276
Publisher: 
Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA), Hamburg
Abstract: 
Poverty alleviation has been the main target of developmental projects world-wide. However, only a few ideas have stirred so much attention in the last two decades as that of the provision of microfinance through specialised institutions. This paper provides a survey of the vast literature that has developed in this field. Though most of the evidence and literature on the subject appears self-praising, nonetheless there is much more to the concept than one can imagine. The establishment of microfinance institutions (MFIs) world-wide for the provision of collateral free loans to the poor through mechanisms and instruments not known to normal commercial banks has set new milestones in the field of financial services. With 900 million households in the less developed countries left without any access to formal financial services, this might just be the key to address market failures in the financial landscape.
Subjects: 
Microfinance institutions
group lending
sustainability
target groups
JEL: 
O16
O12
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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