The Grameen Bank in Bangladesh is known worldwide for its success in providing credit to the poor. However, subsequent replications of its methodology in other parts of the world have been less successful. Is there really an infallible solution that works everywhere, and is outreach to the poor...

Values are to a society what character is to a person: it reveals his true inner self, yet is difficult to describe in exact terms. Moreover, a person's character may show in his actions in various, sometimes contradictory ways so that it may be difficult to induce a person's character from his...

Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world; and women in that country are among the poorest of the poor. In the late 1970s, a man performed a miracle there. With a few loans out of his own pocket in 1976, Professor Yunus proved to himself that even the most downtrodden are able to...

The Philippines, a country of great promise in the 1950s, has greatly lagged behind many other Asian countries. Between 1991 and 1994 urban poverty declined from 26% to 29%; but rural poverty virtually stagnated at a much higher rate: 55% and 54%, respectively. Poverty lending programs were...