消除贫困之外：孟加拉国的小额信贷动态 Preface Since 1983， when Grameen Bank was established in Bangladesh as a model of microfinance banking， microfinance has grown at an exponential rate worldwide； today， more than 200 million people are direct or indirect beneficiaries. Microfinance resolves the market failure of formal financial institutions by reaching out to the poor， women， and other disadvantaged groups of society not covered by the com- mercial banks. By easing liquidity constraints， microfinance helps to generate employment， income， and assets， as well as improve children' s schooling. Since the advent of microfinance， the premise of its improving access by the poor to financial services for consumption smoothing has never been a subject of controversy. What has been controversial is whether microfinance can alleviate poverty， in part， because of the high interest rates charged by microfinance insti- tutions （MFIs）， which offer borrowers little scope for accumulating assets. Controversy also abounds over the methods and alternative statistical assump- tions used to measure benefits. That the poor lack an effective and affordable alternative financing mechanism to support income and employment generation does not necessarily mean that microfinance is a panacea- -it involves the entre- preneurial skills of borrowers， which many of the poor may lack. 【更多详情，请下载：消除贫困之外：孟加拉国的小额信贷动态】