Key to China's plans to promote rural development is the de-marginalisation of the countryside through the incorporation of rural areas into the urban-based market-oriented financial system. For this reason, Chinese development planners have turned to microcredit - i.e. the provision of...

Greater financial intermediation has a positive impact on economic development of a country and banks can play a stabilizing role in an era of rising income inequality. Despite numerous models such as priority sector lending, SHG model, Correspondent banking, RRBs, UCBs, etc. the agenda of...

Over the last decade, the theory that poverty in the world's poorest regions could be alleviated by providing small loans to micro-entrepreneurs has become increasingly popular. This volume examines the effectiveness of this theory when put into practice. The book presents empirical evidence...

In the paper it is inquired how Sudanese women use the financial institutions in order to organise their lives between market, household, and the community. The results are based on interviews and observations done in two villages in the surroundings of Omdurman (Al Gharaza and Sanahir),...