Microcredit programmes, long considered efficient development tools, now face unprecedented crises in a number of countries. Is this the end of microcredit or rather an essential step in its expansion? Should we stop microcredit altogether or rethink the way it is implemented? Drawing on extensive empirical research conducted in various parts of the world, this important volume examines the whole chain of microcredit - from investors and donors to clients - to provide the answers to these questions. In doing so, the authors highlight the diversity of crises, both in intensity and in nature, while also shedding light on a diversity of causes, be it microcredit organizations unprepared for massive growth, saturated local economies or greedy investors and shareholders attracted by profits. Crucially, the authors demonstrate that microcredit is not a monolithic project, and the crises should also be analysed in the light of national histories and policies. An original and necessary intervention in what has become one of the most contentious topics within the development world.
Introduction Part I. Supply 1. Microcredit Crises and Unsustainable Growth: A Management Perspective 2. Estimating Levels of Credit Market Saturation 3. Microcredit Crises and the Absorption Capacity of Local Economies Part II. Demand 4. Mismatch Between Supply and Demand: Microcredit and Funding of Income Generative Activities in Senegal 5. Is the demand for microcredit in rural Tamil Nadu sustainable? 6. How Good Repayment Performances Can Harm Borrowers: Evidence from the Dominican Republic 7. The social credibility of microcredit in Morocco after the default crisis Part III. Environment 8. An overview of microcredit activities in Morocco: from boom to bust and new horizons 9. Malaise in the Senegalese microfinance landscape 10. No Pago, a Social Movement Against Microcredit Institutions in Nicaragua 11. When microfinance collapses: Development and politics in Andhra Pradesh Conclusion
