Microcredit

There has been of late a fascinating outbreak of discussion of microfinance at Marginal Revolution.

The first time I wrote of microcredit in this blog, in December 2010, I noted that Muhammad Yunus was generally considered its father, Grameen Bank was the DNA, and Bangladesh was the cradle.

I reported in that and a following entry on a controversy over a particular transfer of funds from Grameen Bank to Grameen Kalyan, a sister organization.

Half a year later I returned to the subject and referenced efforts to extend the basic model to the US.

A lot of newsy water has passed under the bridge since then. The significance of the discussion at Marginal Revolution, though, is that it takes our attention away from Yunis, away even from the 20^th and 21^st centuries, and asks us to think of microfinance/microcredit with a much longer life.  Jonathan Swift gently rocked its cradle in 18^th century Ireland.

That discussion will in turn direct you to this book.

Happy reading.