To evaluate the competing claims on the impact of microfinance programs on multidimensional poverty, a village study in Bangladesh was conducted where three microfinance programs had been operating for more than five years. The study found that microfinance has resulted in a moderate reduction in the poverty of borrowers, as measured by a variety of socio-economic indicators, but has not reached many of the poorest in the village. To make microfinance a more effective means of poverty reduction other services such as skills training, technological support, education and health related strategies should be included with microfinance.
Abed FH and Matin I. ( 2007) Beyond lending: How microfinance creates new forms of capital to fight poverty. Innovations2(1-2): 3-17.
2.
Ahmed SH, Petzold M., Kabir ZN and Tomson G. ( 2006) Targeted intervention for the ultra poor in Bangladesh: Does it make any difference in their health-seeking behaviour? Social Science and Medicine63(11): 2899-2911.
3.
Altay A. ( 2007) The challenge for global women poverty: Microfinance (or microcredit) as a solution for women poverty in Turkey. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Globalization and its Discontents, Cortland, 4-21. Available at: http://eco.ieu.edu.tr/wp-content/proceedings/2007/0701.pdf
4.
Banerjee A., Duflo E., Glennerster R. and Kinnan C. ( 2009) The Miracle of microfinance?Evidence from a randomized evaluation. MIT Department of Economics . Available at: http://econ-www.mit.edu/files/4162
5.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) (2002 ) Household Income and Expenditure Survey. Dhaka: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
6.
Chemin M. ( 2008) The benefits and costs of microfinance: Evidence from Bangladesh. The Journal of Development Studies44(4): 463-484.
7.
Daley-Harris S. and Zimmerman J. ( 2009) Microfinance does not usually serve the very poor, for whom it can represent a route into debt rather than a way out of poverty . Enterprise Development and Microfinance20(2): 79-85.
8.
Gehlich-Shillabeer M. ( 2008) Poverty alleviation or poverty traps? Microcredits and vulnerability in Bangladesh. Disaster Prevention and Management17(3): 396-409.
9.
Gulli H. and Berger M. ( 1999) Microfinance and poverty reduction - evidence from Latin America. Small Enterprise Development10(3): 16-28.
10.
Halder SR ( 1998) Measurement of poverty and its correlates. In: Husain AMM (eds) Poverty Alleviation and Empowerment - The Second Impact Assessment Study of BRAC’s Rural Development Program, Research and Evaluation Division . Dhaka, Bangladesh: BRAC.
11.
Hashemi SM ( 2001) Including the poorest: Linking microfinance and safety net programs, CGAP Occasional Paper20. Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP): Washington, DC.
12.
Hulme D. and Mosley P. ( 1996) Finance Against Poverty, Vols 1 and 2. London and New York: Routledge.
13.
Husain AMM, Halder SR, Mallick D., Farashuddin F., Hossain A., Amin N., et al. (1998) Poverty Alleviation and Empowerment - The Second Impact Assessment Study of BRAC’s Rural Development Program. Dhaka, Bangladesh: BRAC.
14.
Khan MR ( 1999) Microfinance, wage employment and housework: A gender analysis. Development in Practice9(4): 424-436.
15.
Khandker SR ( 1998) Fighting Poverty with Microcredit: Experience in Bangladesh . New York: Oxford University Press .
16.
Khandker SR and Pitt MM ( 2005) Microfinance and poverty: Evidence using panel data from Bangladesh. The World Bank Economic Review19(2): 263-286.
17.
Littlefield E., Murduch J. and Hashemi S. ( 2003) Is microfinance an effective strategy to reach the millennium development goals? Available at: http://ifmr.ac.in/cmf/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/mf-mdgs-morduch.pdf
18.
Mann MLL ( 2003) A new foundation for microfinance impact studies: An empirical analysis on the household level in Uganda. Department of Economics at the College of Wooster. Available at: http://www.microfinancegateway.org/gm/document-1.9.25593/18240_Uganda_Microfinance_Analysis_Short.pdf
19.
Manroth A. ( 2001) How effective is microfinance in CEEC and the NIS? A discussion of impact analysis to date. MSc dissertation , The London School of Economics and Political Science , The European Institute.
20.
Matin I. and Hulme D. ( 2003) Programs for the poorest: Learning from the IGVGD program in Bangladesh. World Development, 31(3): 647-665.
21.
Morduch J. ( 1998) Does microfinance really help the poor? New evidence from flagship programs in Bangladesh. Department of Economics and HIID, Harvard University. Available at: http://www.nyu.edu/projects/morduch/documents/microfinance/Does_Microfinance_Really_Help.pdf#search=’Does%20microfinance%20really%20help%20the%20poor%3F’
22.
Mosley P. ( 2001) Microfinance and poverty in Bolivia. The Journal of Development Studies37(4): 101-132.
23.
Mustafa S., Ara I., Banu D., Hossain A., Kabir A., Mohsin M., et al. (1996) Beacon of Hope: An Impact Assessment Study of BRAC’s Rural Development Program, Research and Evaluation Division . Dhaka, Bangladesh: BRAC.
24.
Panjaitan-Drioadisuryo DMR and Cloud K. ( 1999) Gender, self-employment, and microcredit programs: An Indonesian case study. Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance39(5): 769-779.
25.
Pitt MM and Khandker SR ( 1996) Household and Intrahousehold Impact of the Grameen Bank and Similar Targeted Credit Program in Bangladesh, World Bank Discussion Papers , No. 320. Washington, DC : World Bank.
26.
Pronyk PM, Hargreaves JR and Morduch J. ( 2007) Microfinance programs and better health: Prospects for Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of American Medical Association298(16): 1925-1927.
27.
Quach MH, Mullineux AW and Murinde V. ( 2003) Microcredit and household poverty reduction in rural Vietnam . Available at: http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/research/iarc/ediais/word-files/Quach.doc
28.
Rahman A. and Razzaque A. ( 2000) On reaching the hard core poor: Some evidence on social exclusion in NGO programs. Bangladesh Development Studies XXVI(1): 1-36.
29.
Robinson MS ( 2002) The Microfinance Revolution. Volume 2: Lessons from Indonesia. Washington, DC : World Bank.
30.
Rogaly B., Castillo A. and Serrano MR ( 2004) Building assets to reduce vulnerability: Microfinance provision by a rural working people’s union in Mexico. Development in Practice14(3): 381-395.
31.
Sebstad J. and Chen G. ( 1996) Overview of Studies on the Impact of Microenterprise Credit . Washington, DC: Assessing the Impact of Microenterprise Services, Management Systems International. Available at: http://www.eldis.org/vfile/upload/1/document/0708/DOC2039.pdf
32.
Sulaiman M. and Matin I. ( 2008) Making microfinance work for the extreme poor: Evidence and experience from Bangladesh. Finance for the Poor9(1): 1-7.
33.
Swain RB, Sanh NV and Tuan VV ( 2008) Microfinance and poverty reduction in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. African and Asian Studies7(2): 191-215.
34.
Tomlinson P. ( 1995) The role of small-scale enterprise promotion in economic and social development. Unpublished MSc thesis, University of Bristol, UK.
35.
Vonderlack RM and Schreiner M. ( 2002) Women, microfinance, and savings: Lessons and proposals . Development in Practice12(5): 602-612.
36.
Woller G. ( 2002) From market failure to marketing failure: Market orientation as the key to deep outreach in microfinance. Journal of International Development14(3): 305-324.
37.
Zaman H. ( 1999) Assessing the impact of micro-credit on poverty and vulnerability in Bangladesh. Policy Research Working Paper no. 2145. Washington, DC: World Bank.
