In this week’s Financial Times, Columnist Tim Harford addresses the recent backlash against microfinance. He cites three randomized controlled trials (RCT) unveiled in 2009 that yielded conflicting results.  The RCTs referenced were: a credit-scoring computer program in Manila by FAI Director Dean Karlan and Jonathan Zinman; a more traditional lending operation in India by researchers from MIT; and a microsavings scheme in rural Kenya.  David Roodman challenges us to be more realistic about our expectations of microfinance suggesting: “Suppose microfinance is not having much average impact on poverty, but is giving millions of people a modicum of greater control over their lives … is that so bad?”

The full article can be found here: