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Full-Text Articles in Law
Microfinance And Financial Development, Michael S. Barr
Microfinance And Financial Development, Michael S. Barr
Articles
Close to three billion people-half of the world's population-live on less than two dollars a day.' Within these poor communities, one child in five will not live to see his or her fifth birthday. To boost international development, the United Nations (UN) announced the Millennium Development Goals, aimed at eradicating poverty by 2015.? A number of countries responded at the International Conference for Financing International Development in Monterrey, Mexico, by creating action plans to begin to implement the Millennium Development Goals.4 Yet the Millennium Development Goals will prove difficult to achieve.1
Banking The Poor, Michael S. Barr
Banking The Poor, Michael S. Barr
Articles
Low-income households often lack access to banking accounts and face high costs for transacting basic financial services through check cashers and other alternative financial service providers. These families find it more difficult to save and plan financially for the future. Living paycheck to paycheck leaves them vulnerable to medical or job emergencies that may endanger their financial stability, and lack of longer-term savings undermines their ability to improve skills, purchase a home, or send their children to college. Additionally, high cost financial services and inadequate access to bank accounts may undermine widely shared societal goals of reducing poverty, moving families …