Submitted by Noah (not verified) on June 2, 2009 - 1:00am.
Very interesting post.
"...innovations in poverty alleviation are, in fact, a very modern thing."
I agree 100 percent. The middle class, known as the bourgeoisie in political theory, is a relatively new phenomenon in world history. It really just began a little over 100 years ago.
Microfinance, that is, the proliferation of access to financial services has certainly facilitated the transition from poor to middleclass and beyond, but there is lots of evidence to suggest that microfinance has actually benefited the old, tradition financial firms and general culture far more than the helping poor people break into the bourgeoisie.
two sides of microfinance
Very interesting post.
"...innovations in poverty alleviation are, in fact, a very modern thing."
I agree 100 percent. The middle class, known as the bourgeoisie in political theory, is a relatively new phenomenon in world history. It really just began a little over 100 years ago.
Microfinance, that is, the proliferation of access to financial services has certainly facilitated the transition from poor to middleclass and beyond, but there is lots of evidence to suggest that microfinance has actually benefited the old, tradition financial firms and general culture far more than the helping poor people break into the bourgeoisie.