Week of October 19, 2015

1. Microcredit in India: A recent review of the Indian microfinance space found MFIs are increasingly serving urban customers, albeit with better assets, at the expense of those in rural communities. Livemint

2. Incarceration and Poverty: We've discussed how the bail process is leading to increasingly high incarceration rates for the poor.  But once in jail, those with child support obligations are hit with an even bigger debt burden, complicating their financial situations after they serve their sentences. The Washington Post

3. Credit Scoring: In life imitating Nineteen Eighty-Four news, China announced plans to create a mandatory "credit score" for all citizens by 2020.  The score will link to national ID cards and incorporate data from social networks as well as a metric for "political compliance." CFI

4. Impact Investing:  A new report provides an in-depth analysis of the U.S. community investment landscape, outlining major types of products, the parameters used by investors to evaluate opportunities in the space, and the barriers to and opportunities for increasing investment. Global Impact Investing Network

5. Upward Economic Mobility: "In a presidential campaign where candidates from both parties are blaming globalization for a shrinking middle class, a 36-year-old India-born economist has a different explanation: Bad neighborhoods and bad teachers rob poor children of the chance to climb into the middle class." The Wall Street Journal