Developmental Impact and Coexistence of Sustainable and Charitable Microfinance Institutions: Analysing BancoSol and Grameen Bank

Jessica Schicks

The European Journal of Development Research, 2007, vol. 19, issue 4, 551-568

Abstract: Based on the current discussion of the development of a commercial market segment of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), this paper evaluates the developmental impact of charitable MFIs that rely on subsidies in comparison with sustainable MFIs that operate independently from grant funding. BancoSol from Bolivia serves as a case study of a sustainable MFI. Grameen Bank from Bangladesh represents a charitable MFI. The case studies confirm both the theoretical arguments for sustainable MFIs promoted by the institutionist approach to microfinance and the arguments for charitable MFIs advocated by the welfarist approach. The paper argues that both kinds of MFIs are justified and should continue to coexist. The second part of the paper suggests institutional solutions to facilitate the coexistence of both types of MFIs. Cet article repose sur le débat actuel portant sur le développement d'un segment de marché commercial des institutions de microfinances (IMF). Il évalue les impacts respectifs sur le développement des IMF qui dépendent de subventions et de celles qui en sont indépendantes. La Bancosol de Bolivie représente un exemple d'IMF durable (sustainable MFI) et la Grameen bank du Bangladesh un exemple d'IMF caritative (charitable MFI). Les études de cas confirment à la fois les arguments théoriques, sur les IMF durables appuyés par l'approche 'institutionniste' et les arguments sur les IMF caritatives appuyés par l'approche en termes d'Etat providence. L'article justifie les deux types d'IMF et la nécessité de leur coexistence. La seconde partie de l'article suggère des solutions institutionnelles destinées à faciliter la coexistence de ces deux types d'IMF.

Date: 2007
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article& ... 40C6AD35DC6213A474B5 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:eurjdr:v:19:y:2007:i:4:p:551-568

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/FEDR20

DOI: 10.1080/09578810701667573

Access Statistics for this article

The European Journal of Development Research is currently edited by Rajneesh Narula

More articles in The European Journal of Development Research from Taylor and Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().