Talk:Microfinance

In my opinion as economics editor, this article is not of an acceptable standard and should not be allowed to remain in its present form. It is lacking in objectivity in that it contains expressions of opinion that are not supported by evidence or authority (Banco Sol in Bolivia, and Bank Rakyat in Indonesia have noteworthy records), and opinions that are attributed to undefined sources (bankers who have stressed the general unfeasibility of providing financial services to the poor).

However, since the subject matter is of some importance, a rewrite would be preferable to deletion. Any offers? Nick Gardner 13:47, 18 January 2011 (UTC)

Traditional cooperatives (Joe?)

Is there an accepted term, analogous to informal value transfer system, for informal lending cooperatives set up by people in a group? I've personally observed Sierra Leonean and Korean community groups pool funds, and then set up consecutive business, with ostracism as a penalty for default. The limit on such groups, of course, is their limied potential capitalization. Howard C. Berkowitz 16:19, 21 January 2011 (UTC)

There doesn't seem to be any accepted terminology in this area (see Yunus [1]) Nick Gardner 09:17, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

Excellent taxonomy we might consider incorporating in the article. I do like the term "Traditional informal microcredit" due to its parallel with informal value transfer system, but even that needs to be subdivided -- the sort of cooperative of which I spoke is very different from a traditional moneylender. Howard C. Berkowitz 09:38, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

There is a separate term out there, but I can't think of it or a way to track it down at the moment. I'll swing back through if I can conjure it up. In the mean time, there's a blog post through the NY Times this morning that touches on the limitations of microcredit and one way to address those limitations: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/when-microcredit-wont-do/ --Joe Quick 15:17, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

It might be worth asking one of the historians that are around. Such groups used to be more common in the U.S., too. I believe some of the old fraternal life insurance organizations started that way. Possibly the Oddfellows? --Joe Quick 15:20, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

Yes, I saw the NYT article -- interesting. Howard C. Berkowitz 15:20, 1 February 2011 (UTC)