Recommended Books on Microfiance

Banker to the Poor by Muhummad Yunus

Nobel Prize winner Yunus’ well written account of the founding and expansion of the Grameen Bank.  A truly inspiring story of social entrepreneurship and perseverance against long odds and conventional thinking about the poor.  Some of what he describes may over simplify and gloss over potential problems but is nonetheless a highly readable introduction to microfinance.

A Billion Bootstraps: Microcredit, Barefoot Banking, and The Business Solution for Ending Poverty by Philip Smith and Eric Thurman

Another accessible overview of microfinance and other value added services. 

The Economics of Microfinance by Beatriz Armedariz and Jonathan Murduch

A scholarly book offering economic explanations to key concepts and questions in microfinance.  This book is highly informative, but is technical and requires at least a basic level of understanding of economics to understand.  There are many mathematical equations presented, but an astute reader could skim many of the mathematical explanations and still learn follow the arguments and conclusions in each chapter.

What’s Wrong with Microfinance? Edited by Thomas Dichter and Malcolm Harper

A provocative and sobering look at the field, this book represents a collection of essays written as a corrective against all of the hype that has been spread through the last several years about microfinance.  The book looks at issues such client versus institutional well being, the rural/ urban divide, the downside of “credit” and the need to emphasize savings and other financial services that emphasize social safety over credit.

The Poor and their Money by Stuart Rutherford

A well researched and interesting book that looks, in part, at what the poor already do with their money (i.e. saving through ROSCA’s) absent microfinance.

Handbook on Microfinance: An Institutional and Financial Perspective (Sustainable Banking with the Poor) by Joanna Ledgerwood

Written as a handbook, this book is packed with helpful information on managing key aspects of microfinance.  For a reader seeking a more technical treatment of the “how to’s” of microfinance, this book is a useful tool.

Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development by Bryant Myers

A very thoughtful book written by a former World Vision executive and current Fuller Seminary professor that takes a holistic (including spiritual) approach to defining and understanding causes of poverty and working with the poor.  This book is highly theoretical in some places and may take an average reader several times attempts to understand all of the definitions and models being proposed, but is essential reading for development work.