Paper on Microfinance and Resistance to Economic Hardships

While much attention has been given to microfinance and its positive benefits when things are going well, a paper recently published by Serajul Hoque, graduate associate at the Department of Economics at Monash University in Australia, shows that such initiatives may actually help people be better off when economies stumble as well.

From Microcapital.org:

Published in January 2008, the paper is based on a RAND survey conducted over four years, and suggests a possible relationship between a household’s membership in a microfinance program, specifically the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC, previously reported), and an increased ability to financially withstand economic hardships.

Entire article is here.