Microfinance Studies: Introduction and Overview

Cyril Fouillet (), Marek Hudon, Barbara Harriss-White and James Copestake

Oxford Development Studies, 2013, vol. 41, issue sup1, S1-S16

Abstract: Microfinance (MF) has grown over the last two decades into an important sub-field of development studies. This special issue of Oxford Development Studies explores the contributions of MF, drawing particularly on research conducted in India. After a brief overview of the emergence of MF as a research field, this introduction develops three themes. First, we argue that MF interventions generally involve, and assume a process of transformation of, financially excluded people and groups who are not fully dominated by the logic of market exchange but have histories, culture, social relationships and politics structured by other kinds of authority and dynamics. Second, we argue that understanding MF interventions at the local level requires the social and political analysis of global development architecture, while MF may also play a role in consolidating or cementing global political economy at its base. Third, we argue that MF interventions have provided fertile ground for research into the causes and consequences of poverty. The introduction ends with summaries of the contents of the special issue.

Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13600818.2013.790360 (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:oxdevs:v:41:y:2013:i:sup1:p:s1-s16

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/CODS20

DOI: 10.1080/13600818.2013.790360

Access Statistics for this article

Oxford Development Studies is currently edited by Jo Boyce and Frances Stewart

More articles in Oxford Development Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().