Microfinance, Debt and Over-Indebtedness

Although microcredit programmes have long been considered as efficient development tools, many forms of debt-induced distress have emerged in their wake. This new book, from a group of leading scholars, explores the manifestations, scale, and economic and social implications of household over-indebtedness.

Isabelle Guérin is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Research Development/Paris I Sorbonne University (Research Unit "Development and Societies"), Paris, and a research associate at the French Institute of Pondicherry and CERMi. Solène Morvant-Roux is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Economy, University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and Associate Researcher to the Centre for European Research in Microfinance (CERMI). Magdalena Villarreal is Senior Researcher and Professor at the Centre for Advanced Research and Postgraduate Studies in Social Anthropology, Mexico.

1. Introduction Isabelle Guérin, Solène Morvant-Roux and Magdalena Villarreal 2. Household Over-Indebtedness in Northern and Southern Countries: A macro-perspective Jean-Michel Servet and Hadrien Saiag 3. Indebted Mexicans in the Californian Mortgage Crisis Magdalena Villarreal 4. Debt, Over-Indebtedness and Wellbeing: An exploration Susan Johnson 5. Why Do the Poor Pay More for Their Credit? A French case study Hélène Ducourant 6. Debt, Credit and Contractual Synchrony in a South-Indian Market Town Barbara Harriss-White 7. The Social Meaning of Over-Indebtedness and Creditworthiness in the Context of Poor Rural South Indian Households (Tamil Nadu) Isabelle Guérin, Marc Roesch, G. Venkatasubramanian and K. S. Santosh Kumar 8. Protection and Over-Indebtedness in Rural South India: The case of labour migrants of Andhra Pradesh Picherit David 9. International Migration and Over-Indebtedness in Rural Mexico Solène Morvant-Roux 10. Multiplying Debt and Dependence: Gender strategies and the social risks of financial inclusion in Western Mexico Francesco Zanotelli 11. Does Juggling Mean Struggling? Insights into the financial practices of rural households in Madagascar Betty Wampfler, Emmanuelle Bouquet and Eliane Ralison 12. The Social Costs of Microfinance and Over-Indebtedness for Women Lourdes Angulo Salazar 13. The Commercialization of Microcredits and Local Consumerism: Examples of over-indebtedness from indigenous Mexico Agata Hummel 14. Mortgaging Used Sari-Skirts, Spear-Heading Resistance: Narratives from the microfinance repayment standoff in a South Indian town, 2008-2010 Nithya Joseph 15. Conclusion Isabelle Guérin, Solène Morvant-Roux and Magdalena Villarreal