"The book explores the vital role played by the financial service industries in enabling the poor to consume over the last hundred and fifty years. Spending requires means, but these industries offered something else as well - they offered practical marketing devices that captured, captivated...

1. Unearthing the 'very dirt of private fact' : the work of market devices -- 2. Groovy like the market? Problems with fit and adaptation in government schemes to insure the poor -- 3. Organising charisma : the role of doorstep finance agents -- 4. Following the lines from conversation to...

The goals of income transfer systems in the US and the UK for low-income families are to reduce poverty and welfare dependency and encourage work. Both the US and UK have made in-work benefits a key part of their strategy through the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Working Families' Tax...

Legitimacy is a social source of financial power -- Legitimacy in political economy -- The financial reform nexus in England -- The financial reform nexus in Germany -- The financial reform nexus in the United States -- The financial reform nexus in Japan -- The social sources of international...