The Age of Microfinance: Destroying Latin American Economies from the Bottom Up

Bateman, Milford

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2385189

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 54 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Rhyne (2001) highlighted how the transformation to Banco Sol was the effective way for commercialize microfinance to expand around the globe. Bateman (2013), Lora andMarquez (1998), andHelwege andBirch (2007) show how microfinance defused through Latin America through various programs developed by FINCA, USAID, and IDB in Brazil, Bolivia, Columbia and Mexico, all stemming from the idea that the expansion of the informal sector would be best way for the continent to reach development goals. Bateman (2013) argues that the microfinance model was thoroughly embedded in Latin America's economy and financial system by the 1990s as significant resources began to shift to microfinance.…”

Section: The Diffusion Of Microfinance In Latin Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bateman (2013), Lora andMarquez (1998), andHelwege andBirch (2007) show how microfinance defused through Latin America through various programs developed by FINCA, USAID, and IDB in Brazil, Bolivia, Columbia and Mexico, all stemming from the idea that the expansion of the informal sector would be best way for the continent to reach development goals. Bateman (2013) argues that the microfinance model was thoroughly embedded in Latin America's economy and financial system by the 1990s as significant resources began to shift to microfinance. Additionally, Bateman (2013) highlights the importance of the US and then World Bank funding for developing the microfinance sector in Latin America.…”

Section: The Diffusion Of Microfinance In Latin Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bateman (2013) argues that the microfinance model was thoroughly embedded in Latin America's economy and financial system by the 1990s as significant resources began to shift to microfinance. Additionally, Bateman (2013) highlights the importance of the US and then World Bank funding for developing the microfinance sector in Latin America. 37 Christen (2000) estimated that the size of the Bolivian microfinance market in 1999 as having disbursed nearly 380,000 microloans with a market penetration rate of 163%.…”

Section: The Diffusion Of Microfinance In Latin Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…48 Bateman (2010), 30. 49 Augsburg and Fouillet, 2010;Bateman, 2013Bayulgen, 2008;Bedecarrates, et al, 2012;Lotzenkirchen and Welstrofer, 2012;Malamut, 2006;Ramani, 2007;Sinclair, 2012 50 Bateman (2010), 42. 51 Bateman (2010), 46. development effectiveness."…”

Section: Growing Issues In Mfis: Questions Of Best Practices and Instmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…13 Funding from the US government and World Bank saw the first moves to establish microfinance in Latin America (Chomsky, 2003;George and Sabelli, 1994). A number of microcredit programs began with the assistance of the Boston led advocacy body ACCION, which used funds from USAID (Bateman, 2013). Most of the MFIs established in the immediate wake of the Grameen Bank were deliberately structured to operate as NGOs with non-profit status.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Microfinance in Latin America: Poverty Alleviation and the Impact of Institutional Mimicry

Jouben¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Microfinance has become a program of choice in the international development community. The World Bank has promoted microfinance programs under the idea that poverty alleviation can be accomplished by mainly providing credit. 1 As such, these policies are often replicated throughout the developing world. This replication is done through international organizations adopting a standard of best practices for the microfinance field. Best practices consist of a complex set of standard by which all banks must adhere if they receive funding from the World Bank or International Monetary Fund. These best practices, following neoliberal economics, lay out how microfinance should operate according to the World Bank. This dissertation looks specifically at this replication through institutional mimicry by questioning the actual impact of the neoliberal economic policies enshrined in the best practices model of microfinance. It examines several distortions that neoliberal best practices create on two dimensions: economic and socio-cultural. The economic distortions concern issues of debt cycles, self-sufficiency, and the role of the economically active poor with the argument that clients who participate in Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) face increasing levels of poverty. Furthermore, it is argued that socio-cultural distortions like social capital creation, local conditions, and gender targeting increase poverty as well. Using a comparative case study analysis of MFIs in Latin America, this dissertation demonstrates economic and socio-cultural effects for MFIs departing from best practices: first, the lower level of indebtedness of their clients and, second, the offering of a wider array of social programs in the community. These findings are a preliminary indication that departing from best practices contributes to poverty alleviation. Essentially, I argue that for microfinance to be successful it needs to question neoliberal best practices within microfinance policies and focus on tailoring microfinance programs to local political and social conditions.

show abstract

Section: The Diffusion Of Microfinance In Latin Americamentioning

confidence: 99%