Should Access to Credit be a Right ?

Marek Hudon

No 07-008.RS, Working Papers CEB from ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles

Abstract: Discussion on financial ethics increasingly includes the problem of exclusion of the poorer segments of society from the financial system and access to credit. This paper explores the ethical dimensions surrounding the concept of a human right to credit. If access to credit is directly instrumental to economic development, poverty reduction and the improved welfare of all citizens, then one can proclaim, as Nobel Prize Laureate M. Yunus has done, that it is a moral necessity to establish credit as a right. Arguments both supporting and opposing the concept of a right to credit are presented. While there may be general agreement that access to financial services may provide a pathway out of poverty, granting a universal right could induce perverse effects such as overindebtedness. Bearing in mind the ultimate goal of proponents of this right as well as the potential harmful consequences, this paper offers a new perspective on the question of access to credit based on a goal-right system.

Keywords: credit; financial exclusion; human right; justice; microfinance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O16 Q14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 p.
Date: 2007
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-ent, nep-hpe, nep-mfd and nep-pke
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Journal Article: Should Access to Credit be a Right? (2009)
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