Rume: Rural Microfinance and Employment
Team
Isabelle Guérin
PhD in Economics (2000, Lyon II University/ Economic Analysis and History of Institutions)
Socioconomist specializing on interactions between household behaviour, vulnerability and social justice. Areas of specialization are 1) household survival and livelihood strategies, with a focus on indebtedness, over-indebtedness, debt bondage and on gender dimensions of vulnerability; 2) collective action and NGOs interventions, with a focus on microfinance, empowerment programme, and linkages with public policies.
From a theoretical perspective, specific attention is paid to the social meaning of money, debt and finance, the social fabric of markets, organizations and institutions.
Socioconomist specializing on interactions between household behaviour, vulnerability and social justice. Areas of specialization are 1) household survival and livelihood strategies, with a focus on indebtedness, over-indebtedness, debt bondage and on gender dimensions of vulnerability; 2) collective action and NGOs interventions, with a focus on microfinance, empowerment programme, and linkages with public policies.
From a theoretical perspective, specific attention is paid to the social meaning of money, debt and finance, the social fabric of markets, organizations and institutions.
Explaining heterogeneity in microcredit take-up rates and repayment defaults in rural Morocco: the role of social norms and actors
This paper uses microcredit demand and use in rural Morocco as a case study to examine how households appropriate microcredit services. This work draws on qualitative analysis aiming at completing a randomized study. While agro-ecological (...)
Ambiguities and Paradoxes of the Decent Work Deficit: Bonded Migrants in Tamil Nadu
This paper examines the brick kiln industry in Tamil Nadu as a case study to highlight the discrepancy between normative categories of decent work and workers’ experiences and subjectivities. It highlights the extreme vulnerability of circular (...)
Labour Standards in India
This special issue addresses labour standards in India in the context of globalisation. It takes its cue from the contradiction between the ‘race to the bottom’ that can be the consequence of globalisation, and the international agenda for (...)
Dettes, protections et solidarités en Inde du Sud
L’expérience vécue de la microfinance. Appropriations, tensions et recomposition des rapports sociaux
Isabelle Guérin - March 2012
À partir de l’exemple de la microfinance, l’objet de cet article est d’analyser l’expérience vécue de normes de développement standardisées. Le suivi d’une quinzaine de femmes dans la durée met en évidence le décalage entre des normes misant sur (...)
The political economy of micro entrepreneurship for women: why does microfinance fail to promote self-employment in rural south-India?
For the past two decades, microfinance has been considered an efficient tool for self-employment creation in developing countries, especially for women. This has been particularly true in rural India, where through strong support from public (...)
Credit from whom and for what?
This article aimed to deepen understandings of poor household borrowing practices by drawing on a case study from rural Southern India. It combines descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis to show that households juggle with a wide range (...)
Les effets insoupçonnés de la microfinance
Isabelle Guérin - December 2011
Fondé sur plusieurs années de recherche en Inde du Sud, cet article montre que les effets de la microfinance sont avant tout de nature politique. À un niveau macro, la microfinance indienne est largement promue par les autorités publiques pour deux (...)
Debt and Poverty in Rural South-India
Isabelle Guérin - November 2011
Résumé. Dette et pauvreté en Inde rurale du Sud Le microcrédit, en Inde comme ailleurs, a été présentée ces dernières années comme un outil d’éradication de la pauvreté, permettant d’abolir des formes d’endettement informelles asservissantes, de soutenir la (...)
Understanding the diversity and complexity of demand for microfinance services: lessons from informal finance
Do women need specific microfinance services?
Isabelle Guérin - November 2011
Interview in Alternatives Economiques. Microcrédit : grands espoirs, petits impacts
Isabelle Guérin - September 2011
Interview in Alternatives Internationales. La microfinance dans la tourmente. Inde: retour de balancier.
Isabelle Guérin - September 2011
Bonded labour and the agrarian question in Tamil Nadu.
Isabelle Guérin - August 2011
The state in Tamil Nadu has been one of the foremost in India to combine general industrial expansion policies with a strong set of welfarist anti-poverty measures. Despite this, bonded labor is still surprisingly commonplace, both in the (...)
Debt in Rural South India: Fragmentation, Social Regulation and Discrimination
This micro-level study combines multivariate statistics and qualitative analysis to highlight the fragmented nature of debt in southern Indian rural households. It finds that debt is socially regulated inasmuch as social interactions shape the (...)
Interview in Radio France International, Les mirages du microcrédit. Focus du jour
Isabelle Guérin - June 2011
Women and Repayment in Microfinance: A Global Analysis
This paper uses a global data set of 350 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 70 countries to study the common belief that women are generally better credit risks in microfinance than men. The results confirm that a higher percentage of female (...)
Interview in Youphil, En matière de microfinance, rentabilité financière ne rime pas avec efficacité sociale
Isabelle Guérin - April 2011
Interview in La Croix: "La microfinance est-elle menacée de discrédit ?"
Isabelle Guérin - March 2011
""L’affaire Yunus” illustre la suspicion croissante envers un outil qui a été porté aux nues et dont on se rend compte qu’il n’a pas répondu à ses promesses. La Grameen Bank paye son opacité. Il y a aussi une politisation de la situation. Les dérives qu’a (...)
Participation au Club de la microfinance: "Comprendre la crise du secteur de la microfinance en Inde"
Isabelle Guérin - March 2011
Conférence du Club de la microfinance sur le thème : "Comprendre la crise du secteur de la microfinance en Inde"
Avec la participation de :
Isabelle Guérin, Université Paris I Sorbonne – IRD, UMR 201 Développement et Sociétés ;
Anne-Claire Hay, (...)
Forthcoming: "Over-indebtedness and financial inclusion"
Brief summary of the book:
For some time, the world has shown concern about the increasing rate at which household debt has grown, particularly after the detonation of the mortgage crisis. Nowadays, overindebtedness habitually makes it to the (...)
Tontine
Isabelle Guérin - January 2011
Microfinance
Isabelle Guérin - January 2011
Dettes
Isabelle Guérin - January 2011
Coopératives
Isabelle Guérin - January 2011
Travail illégal et servitude pour dette en Inde du Sud
Isabelle Guérin - January 2011
L’ambiguïté des programmes d’empowerment : entre domination, résistance et instrumentalisation
Isabelle Guérin,
Santosh Kumar - January 2011
Femmes, économie et développement, Entre résistance et justice sociale
Il existe partout dans le monde une multitude d’initiatives locales spécifiquement féminines combinant activités économiques (production, consommation, finance, etc.) et politiques (défense des droits) et pourtant celles-ci sont quasiment ignorées de (...)
The social meaning of over-indebtedness and creditworthiness in the context of poor rural South Indian households (Tamil Nadu)
Drawing on field work done in rural South India, where consumer credit has dramatically increased over the last decade, the chapter analyses the processes through which contemporary forms of debt lead to pauperization and misery. The authors’ (...)
Article accepted in World Development: "Women and Repayment in Microfinance: A Global Analysis"
This paper uses a global data set of 350 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 70 countries to study the common belief that women are generally better credit risks in microfinance than men. The results confirm that a higher percentage of female (...)
Article in Mondes en Développement: "Politiques d’inclusion financière, microfinance et financement de l’agriculture"
Access to credit for small farmers is a major challenge in securing or even increase agricultural production. That this access is either difficult or impossible for farmers in developing countries. Yet the majority of peasants in developing (...)
Faut-il aider une microfinance "lucrative" ou une microfinance "éducative" ?
La crise que traverse la microfinance en Andhra Pradesh (Inde) réveille les passions et trouble certains intérêts. Cette crise a pour origine une vague de suicides ce qui ne fait qu’augmenter le niveau émotionnel du dossier. Il est du devoir des (...)
Article in Le Monde: "Faut-il aider une microfinance "lucrative" ou une microfinance "éducative" ?"
La crise que traverse la microfinance en Andhra Pradesh (Inde) réveille les passions et trouble certains intérêts. Cette crise a pour origine une vague de suicides ce qui ne fait qu’augmenter le niveau émotionnel du dossier. Il est du devoir des (...)
Politiques d’inclusion financière, microfinance et financement de l’agriculture. Les cas de l’Inde et du Mexique
Access to credit for small farmers is a major challenge in securing or even increase agricultural production. That this access is either difficult or impossible for farmers in developing countries. Yet the majority of peasants in developing (...)
Avis de tempête dans le monde de la microfinance indienne
La semaine qui vient s’annonce difficile pour la microfinance indienne, mais aussi pour le monde de la microfinance en général. La plus grosse institution de microfinance indienne SKS est sur la sellette. Suite à une vague de suicide d’emprunteuses (...)
Article in Le Monde: "Avis de tempête dans le monde de la microfinance indienne"
La semaine qui vient s’annonce difficile pour la microfinance indienne, mais aussi pour le monde de la microfinance en général. La plus grosse institution de microfinance indienne SKS est sur la sellette. Suite à une vague de suicide d’emprunteuses (...)
Interview in Youphil: Microcrédit, l’espoir déçu des femmes
Isabelle Guérin - October 2010
L’équipe de rédaction de Youphil.com, le média de toutes les solidarités, a réalisé une interview avec Isabelle Guérin sur les effets du microcrédit sur la vie des femmes.
Credit for whom and for what? The diversity of borrowing sources and borrowing uses in south-India
This article aims to deepen understandings of poor household borrowing practices by drawing on a case study from rural Southern India. It combines descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis to show how households juggle with a wide range of (...)
Interview in Sciences au Sud: Une crise de surendettement menace-t-elle les ménages des pays du Sud ?
Isabelle Guérin - July 2010
Le surendettement des ménages dans les pays développés, aux États-Unis en particulier, a éclaté au grand jour avec la crise financière. Qu’en est-il de l’endettement des ménages dans les pays du Sud ? En marge d’un récent séminaire sur le sujet, (...)
Crise, microfinance et surendettement. Une étude de cas en Inde du Sud
Femmes et microfinance : espoir et désillusions de l’expérience indienne
Pourquoi la microfinance s’intéresse-t-elle autant aux femmes ? Que sait-on aujourd’hui de ses effets sur la pauvreté féminine et sur les inégalités de genre ? En se basant sur l’exemple indien, cet ouvrage propose quelques éléments de réponse et de (...)
Microfinance and self-employment in rural South-India: analysis of a failure
Isabelle Guérin - May 2010
Based on several field studies conducted in rural areas in Tamil Nadu over the last five years, and using mainly a socioeconomic approach, this paper shows that microfinance effects on self-employment are very limited. On the one hand, (...)
Dialogue anthropologie/économie pour analyser les interactions entre finance et emploi : analyse d’un processus et premiers résultats
Indebtedness and over-indebtedness in the context of poor rural South-Indian households
Isabelle Guérin - February 2010
Indebtedness and over-indebtedness in the context of poor rural South-Indian households
Drawing on field work done in rural south-India, where consumer credit has dramatically increased over the last decade, the presentation focuses on local perceptions of debt and over-indebtedness. The authors suggest that household strategies (...)
Microfinance and women’s empowerment in rural South-India: do relationships between women matter?
Isabelle Guérin,
Santosh Kumar - January 2010
The principal aim of this paper is two fold. First, we highlight the subjective aspects underpinning empowerment and its specific meanings in the context studied here. Patriarchy is characterized by strong male domination but also by ambiguous (...)
Understanding the diversity and complexity of demand for microfinance services: lessons from informal finance
There is growing consensus that microfinance supply is too standardised, inflexible and inadequate given the diversity of financial needs). As a result, microfinance is a very partial substitute for informal financial services and their (...)
Microfinance and the dynamics of financial vulnerability. Lessons from rural South India
Drawing on data collected in rural South India, and using mainly a comprehensive approach, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the effects of microfinance on the financial vulnerability of its clients. First, we observe that microfinance is (...)
Gender bias in microfinance
While most gender studies on microfinance have concentrated on possible women empowerment, few have asked why some microfinance institutions (MFIs) target women while others do not. This paper provides empirical evidence on the existence and (...)
Article in Les Echos: "Développement: quand la bulle de la microfinance éclatera"
Afin de prolonger les débats suscités par le reportage diffusé par France 2 dans Envoyé Spécial, Isabelle Guérin, Marc Roesch et Jean-Michel Servet ont publié une tribune dans le journal Les Echos du 16 juin (...)
Microfinance, Financial Inclusion and Social Responsibility
The main purpose of the paper is to demonstrate that a study on social responsibility in the field of microfinance is absolutely essential, for several reasons. It is first of all indispensable in order to avoid illusions about the supposed (...)
Microfinance and intra-household management
Isabelle Guérin - March 2009
Microfinance, endettement et surendettement
A partir d’observations menées en zones rurales d’Inde du Sud cet article étudie les mécanismes et les dynamiques d’endettement et de surendettement des familles et le rôle qu’y joue la microfinance. Dans un contexte où les familles sont déjà fortement (...)
Women and repayment in microfinance
This paper analyzes gender-differences with respect to microfinance repayment-rates using a large global dataset covering 350 Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in 70 countries. The results indicate that more women clients is associated with lower (...)
Bonded Labour in the Rice Mills: Fate or Opportunity?
Abstract. The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the working and living conditions of the labourers in the rice mill sector in Tamil Nadu. We also identify the explaining factors through a two-fold approach combining a sector-based (...)
Neobondage, Seasonal Migration and Job Brokers: Cane Cutters in Tamil Nadu
Abstract. The main purpose of the paper is to analyse the consequences of seasonal migration on the working and living conditions of the cane cutters in Tamil Nadu (South India). As observed in others sectors and others regions of India, we’ll (...)
Corridors of Migration and Chains of Dependence: Brick Kiln Moulders in Tamil Nadu
Isabelle Guérin,
Venkatasubramanian - January 2009
Abstract. As suggested by Jan Breman, our understanding and knowledge of the living and employment conditions of this massive army of destitute workers is probably better than a quarter century ago, but the efforts for improvement have not up to (...)
India’s Unfree Workforce. Of Bondage Old and New
In the course of India’s transformation to market capitalism, the use of unfree labour has increased dramatically. Hidden behind the glamour of accelerated growth in production, and visible signs of wealth, is the poverty and vulnerability of (...)
The Social Life of Microfinance Projects: Brokerage and Resistance.
Isabelle Guérin - January 2009
Risk management (especially the risk of borrowers’ default) and loyalty are one of the main challenges of microfinance organizations. While these two components have been mainly analyzed in a technical and economical perspective, our observations (...)
Microfinance and Informal Finance: Substitution or Leverage Effect?
Isabelle Guérin - December 2008
Poor Women and their Money: between Daily Survival, Private Life, Family Obligations and Social Norms
Isabelle Guérin - December 2008
This article examines the complexity and diversity of women’s informal financial practices and circuits using data from surveys conducted in Senegal and South India. A micro level analysis reveals the subtlety and complexity of these practices (...)
L’argent des femmes pauvres : entre survie quotidienne, obligations familiales et normes sociales
Isabelle Guérin - November 2008
A partir d’observations empiriques menées en Inde du Sud et Sénégal, cet article porte sur la complexité et la diversité des pratiques et des circuits monétaires et financiers de femmes pauvres. Une analyse des expériences et des vécus individuels (...)
Microfinance, Indebtedness and Overindebtedness
Isabelle Guérin - November 2008
Isabelle Guérin introduced a paper which explores the effects of microfinance on pre-existing indebtedness and informal financial practices.
Compte rendu du Boulder-Bergamo Forum sur l’accès aux services financiers en milieu rural
L’enjeu de ce bulletin n’est pas de résumer le contenu des échanges de manière exhaustive mais de rendre compte des principales réflexions soulevées. Par rapport au colloque FARM qui s’est tenu 8 mois plutôt (décembre 2007), on remarquera que certaines (...)
Pluralité microfinancière et économie solidaire en Inde
Isabelle Guérin,
Cyril Fouillet - October 2008
La microfinance indienne : l’heure du bilan
En Inde, comme dans de nombreuses autres parties du monde, la microfinance connaît un développement exponentiel. L’objet de cet article est d’étudier l’une des spécificités du secteur microfinancier indien, le self-help groups bank linkage. Alors que ce (...)
Group lending in South-India. A Gender Perspective
Isabelle Guérin - May 2008
Is Microcredit an Efficient Tool Against Exclusion?
Isabelle Guérin,
François Doligez - May 2008
The impact of microfinance on poverty and exclusion remain highly controversial. Two researchers (F. Doligez, associate professor at University of Rennes and I. Guérin, research fellow at IRD) have been approached to discuss about the (...)
Limits and Drawbacks of Microcredit
Isabelle Guérin - April 2008
The recent nomination of Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank for the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2006 has led to an unprecedented media consensus regarding the virtues of microfinance in terms of poverty eradication, economic development and (...)
Microcredit: What do We Know?
Isabelle Guérin,
Jean-Michel Servet - April 2008
Over the last decade, microfinance in India has experienced huge and uneven expansion, especially through the Self-Help Group (SHG) movement. J.-M Servet and I. Guérin share their standpoint as regards Indian microfinance, its strengths and its (...)
Le microcrédit au péril du néolibéralisme et de marchands d’illusions. Manifeste pour une inclusion financière socialement responsable
Isabelle Guérin,
Cyril Fouillet,
Solène Morvant-Roux,
Marc Roesch,
Jean-Michel Servet - October 2007
S’appuyant sur des travaux de recherche empiriques menés dans des contextes variés, cet article aborde tout à tour les hypothèses qui sous-tendent le lien entre la microfinance et la réduction d’une pauvreté qui ne serait la conséquence que du manque (...)
Ne nous libérez pas ! L’ambiguïté du principe de l’avance sur salaire à partir de l’exemple des briqueteries en Inde du Sud
Basé sur l’étude des mouleurs des briqueteries en Inde du Sud, cet article met en évidence la construction sociale et historique de filières de migration fortement segmentées, cette segmentation leur donnant au fil du temps une dimension (...)
Clientélisme, courtage et gestion des risques en microfinance. Etude de cas en Inde du Sud
Isabelle Guérin,
Santosh Kumar - June 2007
Alors que la question du risque en microfinance a été analysée principalement dans une perspective économique et technique, nos observations en Inde du Sud montrent que les pratiques quotidiennes sont imbriquées dans des relations locales, de nature (...)
Microfinance and the Empowerment of Women: Will the Silent Revolution Take Place?
Isabelle Guérin,
Jane Palier - May 2007
In September 2003, Selvi J. Jayalalitha, then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, gave a speech evoking the “silent revolution” underway in the Indian countryside thanks to microfinance. Women, she said, had acquired “top status” in society and the era of (...)
La microfinance indienne peut-elle être solidaire ?
Comment et à quelles conditions la microfinance peut-elle être solidaire, c’est-à-dire capable de participer à un processus de redistribution du pouvoir et des richesses mais aussi d’inventer de nouvelles formes de démocratie ? L’article met en (...)
Labour in brick kilns
This case study of the brick kiln sector in Chennai shows that workers are in a “mild” situation of debt bondage, have to work for long hours, and very often put their children to work as well. However, they are paid wages that are very close to (...)
Women and Money: multiple, complex and evolving practices
Isabelle Guérin - May 2006
This article examines the complexity and diversity of women’s informal financial practices using data from surveys conducted in Senegal. It suggests that these practices are at the centre of a constant dialectic between short-term and long-term (...)
Microfinance en Asie: entre traditions et innovations
The objective of this book is to show, beyond particular political and social contexts, the main challenges microfinance organisations have to deal with today. The book is divided in three parts: the institutionalization of informal finance (...)
Microfinance Challenges: Empowerment or Disempowerment of the Poor?
Isabelle Guérin,
Jane Palier - February 2005
The causal relation between microfinance and empowerment is neither linear, nor unequivocal, and it is even less systematic. This book is an attempt to nourish the debate, on the one hand, by combining theoretical reflections and case studies, (...)
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