Microfinance, Rights and Global Justice

Contributors examine the ethical issues surrounding microfinance, including questions about exploitation, human rights, and efforts to promote global justice.

Tom Sorell (Edited by), Luis Cabrera (Edited by)

9781107110977, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 August 2015

212 pages, 2 b/w illus. 4 tables
24 x 16 x 4 cm, 1.2 kg

'Is microfinance morally desirable and, if so, why? How does microfinance score relative to other policy instruments at reducing poverty or at promoting access to credit? This volume traces a systematic and insightful path through the normative and empirical thicket of microfinance practices today. It contains important lessons for both political philosophers and policy makers.' Peter Dietsch, Université de Montréal

Microfinance - the practice of providing small loans to promote entrepreneurial activity among those with few financial assets - is increasingly seen as a sustainable means of aiding the global poor. Perhaps its most influential advocate, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, has claimed that there is a human right to microfinance, given its potential for poverty alleviation. This book directs critical philosophical attention at this very widely used and praised poverty-reducing measure. In chapters that discuss microfinance schemes and models around the world, internationally renowned contributors address important questions about both the positive impact of microfinance and cases of exploitation and repayment pressure. Exploring how far microfinance can or should be situated within broader concerns about justice, this volume sheds light on ethical issues that have so far received little systematic attention, and it advances discussion on new human rights, exploitation, and global justice.

Introduction Tom Sorell
1. Credit is not a right John Gershman and Jonathan Morduch
2. Is there a human right to microfinance? Tom Sorell
3. Financial inclusion, education, and human rights Kimberly Brownlee and Zofia Stemplowska
4. Microfinance, non-ideal theory, and global distributive justice Daniel Butt
5. Microfinance, poverty relief, and political justice Miriam Ronzoni and Laura Valentini
6. Is exploitation permissible in microcredit? Lesley Sherratt
7. What's wrong with exorbitant interest rates on microloans? Joakim Sandberg
8. Tensions between financial and organisational sustainability: the problematic case of group-based microfinance and possible ways forward Ana Marr
9. Freedom and credit Mark Hannam.

Subject Areas: Development economics & emerging economies [KCM], Economic theory & philosophy [KCA], Economics [KC], Human rights [JPVH], Political science & theory [JPA], Social & political philosophy [HPS], Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ], Development studies [GTF]