Microfinance and inclusive financial systems in Latin America

Molden, Amy Buchanan.

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Molden, Amy Buchanan.

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Thesis (M.A.)--Georgetown University, 2010.; Includes bibliographical references.; Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. The search for the best way to create opportunity and sustainable development in the less privileged parts of the world has brought about initiatives to overcome poverty and marginalization, and to build more inclusive social, economic and financial systems. Among a multitude of initiatives, microfinance, by now a familiar story, only recently came to the attention of the development field. The contemporary version of microfinance traces its origins to 1974, via the innovative initiative of Dr. Muhammad Yunus in starting the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, for which he went on to win the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2006. Yunus showed that microfinance held the promise of providing financial services for those otherwise considered unworthy and unprofitable by the traditional financial sector. The introduction of microfinance in Latin America, where poverty has reached preoccupying levels, has developed in varying stages among countries of the region. After briefly analyzing such differences, this thesis will present the Argentine microfinance experience as a case study. Argentina is brought into focus for two reasons: it is the country in the region where microcredit has least developed and the government has been especially restrictive in integrating microfinance into the overall financial system. The research for this thesis, based on two years of field work in the villas miserias of the Buenos Aires province in Argentina, aims finally to explore the role of microcredit in building more inclusive financial systems, in order to evaluate its impact on the goal to decrease marginalization and poverty.