Overview of microfinance, financial inclusion, and development

Abstract

Microfinance institutions provide essential financial services on a large scale that the poor cannot access otherwise. The first chapter motivates the need for the handbook and overviews the contributions. The second chapter by Jonathan Morduch proposes a broader framework for understanding poverty and the corresponding financial needs of poor households. The conceptual framework section also includes chapters with new takes on social impacts, the role of gender, fairness of interest rates, financial resilience in emergencies and financial education. Next is an overview of the section on delivery mechanisms for financial services including group liability lending, agent banking, and digital finance, as well as the role of value chain finance and insurance for smallholder agriculture. Discussions of microfinance from the perspectives of practitioners and investors follow. The final part summarizes case studies from countries and regions that illustrate novel aspects of the link between microfinance, financial inclusion and development.