Here’s our shortlist of links (in no particular order) that we thought were interesting or relevant to the microfinance sector. This is by no means a complete list, so if we missed something important, please feel free to add it in the comments. And if you’re looking for a media round-up of the Yunus-Bangladeshi government dispute, check out Financial Access Initiative in the News.
- CGAP is doing a very interesting blog series on over-indebtedness. Here are a few of the contributors we thought were interesting:
- Insights from Stuart Rutherford on over lending in Bangladesh.
- Shameran Abed from BRAC provides a practitioner's perspective on over-indebtedness.
- Rochus Mommartz from responsAbility discusses what can one do about over-indebtedness when 'it's as old as lending itself'.
- Esther Duflo’s & Abhijit Banerjee's new book, Poor Economics, has launched with a great companion site.
- Dean Karlan and Jacob Appel also have a new book out, More than Good Intentions. Check out this great review at Miller McCune.
- Interesting report on -- Does Credit Improve the Food Consumption Vulnerability of the Extreme Poor?
- FAI-NYU Visiting Scholar Michael Clemens explains what is rigorous impact evaluation in under 6minutes!
- More food for thought whether you agree or not -- Five reasons why microfinance is in crisis - and why it matters.
- The new MIX Market analysis on social performance and financial data for microfinance in West Africa.
Editors’ Note: Hi, Laura and Jonathan here. A few of the pieces this week come from people who spent years up close with how poor households actually handle money, and keep coming back with something more tangled than the story usually told, and more persistent. Tim will be back for the next edition. - Laura Freschi and Jonathan Morduch