| BRUSSELS 2007! Workshop 5: "Credit for the “Poor”: Microlending or Bank Loans?" - Quality versus Access in European Microfinance - |
W5: CREDIT FOR THE “POOR”: MICRO-LENDING OR BANK LOANS?
Quality versus Access in Western European Microfinance
A discussion paper by Oliver J. Haas
This paper provides a brief overview of microfinance in Western Europe. Until now, microfinance referred only to microcredit, but the sector is growing fast and is diversifying its services. This paper intends to raise questions to facilitate the ongoing discussion about quality in microfinance. The author defines quality as the extent to which an institution follows and achieves its mission goals to increase social and financial inclusion, and to promote self-employment, microenterprises and small businesses. In addition, the paper considers the social impact of Western European microfinance in terms of finance and its employment effects. The author shows that microcredit has beneficial effects on both, but it can also lead to a deterioration in job quality as with precarious work, the working poor and debt burdens. Nonetheless, further examination of the quality of work and the consequences of business and credit failures on household income and debt status are still needed, as is further study of the influence of product design. The paper concludes by discussing the constraints between access to credit in order to facilitate (self-) employment, and the quality of financial services in terms of price, service quality and flexibility. |
| ID: |
40175 |
| Author(s): |
iff |
| Publication date: |
14/09/07 |
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Created: 11/09/07. Last changed: 11/09/07.
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