Thursday, October 12, 2017

Re: [MFP] Re: Special Virtual Edition of 'Development and Change' on the rise

 

Dear Milford,

Thank you for your thoughts on MicroFinance, think many wanted to believe that it would be a solution to eliminate poverty when in fact it was just another financing channel that needed to be developed.    Financial Inclusion is microfinancing scheme with an updated name.   Another financial intermediary that participates in financial industry.    

Saludos
 
Chale Espinosa A

USA : 251-219-4808
Nic : 505-8-851-3355
Skype: chalespinosa
twitter: @chalespinosa


On Thursday, October 12, 2017 5:08 AM, "Getaneh Gobezie getanehg2002@yahoo.com [MicrofinancePractice]" <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com> wrote:


 
Dear Milford

Thank you again, for sharing your valuable resources at ResearchGate... Of all the resources, perhaps the one titled ''From Panacea to 'Anti-Development' Intervention: The Rise and Fall of Microcredit (UNCTAD Discussion Paper, May 2017) can be of particular interest to many. ... Among others it touches upon the critical issue 'blanket targeting' of micro-credit (to everyone), which has also been highlighted in the (very widely debated!!) research outcome ''Six Randomized Evaluation of Microcredit'' (by Abhijit Banerji, Dean Karlan and Jonatan Zinman, 2014). ... We have re-emphasized the value of saving products to many poor people, which often constitute the majority in many contexts, also posted at the same resource center (Research Gate):


Thank you for the suggestions.

Regards

Getaneh




On Tuesday, October 10, 2017 1:34 AM, "milford bateman milfordbateman@yahoo.com [MicrofinancePractice]" <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com> wrote:


 
Dear Getaneh

Nice to hear from you again. I think this network will soon close down for lack of interest or else be renamed "Financial Inclusion Practice Group' or something like that....

To your question - you can find most of my work on microfinance at my author page at Research Gate

While I am here, you might be interested in most recent output posted last week which is a book chapter written with Professor Sonja Novkovic and it refers to Muhammad Yunus's concept of social business, which he is now pushing hard with a new book 'A World of Three Zeros'. I have the book on order, but in the meantime I saw him on Democracy Now! and I have to say that I was far from impressed with his presentation on social business and in particular, his apparent new found belief in equality. I almost died laughing hearing him denounce people like Carlos Slim in Mexico and others for their enormous wealth without saying that he has defended them consistently over the years, serve on their foundations, accepted their awards, and so on. He has also taken their cash to set up microfinance units, such as from  Carlos Slim to set up a Grameen microfinance unit in Mexico. Anyway, our current chapter is here: Muhammad Yunus's model of social business: A new, more humane form of capitalism or a failed "next big idea'?



It is included in the current edited book I have out co-edited with Kate Maclean and with a foreword by James K Galbraith, titled 'Seduced and Betrayed: Exposing the Contemporary Microfinance Phenomenon' which you can find here: 




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Posted by: Chale Espinosa A <chalespinosa@yahoo.com>
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RE: [MFP] Richard Thaler's behavioral economics recognized (yes, it is not new!)

 

Thanks Charlie, thanks for sharing those insights! Much appreciated.

 

(and yes Dale, it is a pity that why and how Commons actually work, is still not in the front room of public policy arena.)

 

One of my personal observations, which is slightly going beyond the 'nudge' hypotheses, is that behaviours are often not individualistic. They are very often based on prevailing 'group think', which in turn can be quite fickle at times based on contestations in the community or society.   There are several examples that come to mind.  

 

Nudge suggests that the change of social or economic/ financial behaviour happens one at a time, where I wish to argue that it goes in 'ebbs and flows', depending on prevailing force of thought current. And. There is a natural limit of where that changed behaviour will reach, and then stop or digress.  We see this in how farmers adopt a new / different way of cropping or different crop all together, how women may start engaging in savings and credit groups and start saving, urban waste management workers start joining a worker union or coop, or children may be enrolled into schools.

 

Many of us have used this understanding in our daily work and program designing/ planning (I think), without fully articulating – what influences certain groups or communities change their social behaviour; or resist that change; and how those natural/ normal curves (of change) differ in different contexts.

 

In some of the work I am working with in Palestine farm produce market systems- the trends are quite interesting; and an added hypothesis is that, actors with (the perception of their) self-interest resist and block the change process, without explicitly being opposed to change; and thus, being fully on board to change in social forums and negotiation tables, but not following through in practice.  It is a very visible pattern, but difficult to explain through economic behaviour models, perhaps.

 

It will be great if others can share their own insights in financial and market behaviour fields; and perhaps collaborate in taking a deeper dive.

 

Regards,

Anuj

 

 

 

Anuj K. Jain

Development Leaedrship, Inclusive Economies (Microfinance, Market Systems, Urban Economies), Partnerships

Sr. Project Specialist| COADY International Institute

St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, B2G 2W5| Ph: 902-872-0521

 

 

 

From: MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com [mailto:MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2017 5:04 PM
To: MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [MFP] Richard Thaler's behavioral economics recognized (yes, it is not new!)

 

 

As a psychology major in my B.A., with an emphasis on natural sciences besides, when I got into Economics in grad school I was amazed at the full rationality assumption of almost all models and wondered why they (economists) did not learn from reality.  Thaler, at least is a realist on human behaviors.

 

The lack of connection to reality was part of the malpractice that led macroeconomics to descend into the free market utopianism of ca. 1970s-2007/8.  Macro is still in dispute, but hopefully it can evolve towards more emphasis on actual economic evidence.

 

A couple decades ago, the Nobel prize in Econ committee in Sweden changed the leadership (a converted—from the left-- Conservative finally was off; I interviewed for my dissertation on Sweden before the reforms in the award process & committee, and was surprised at what a jerk he was).  The prize topic was broadened (in English it became the prize in social sciences) and the committee occasionally has non-economists on it since then.  This reform was before Ostrom, a political scientist, was awarded the prize. 

 

Remember, this Nobel Prize in Economics was only invented and supported by the Bank of Sweden on its 300th anniversary in 1968-69.  It is not a 'real Nobel' like the ones that began at the start of the 20th century (based on Nobel's own ideas), although the money is about the same, $1m. 

Charlie Rock 

 

Dr. Charles P. Rock,

Dept. of Economics,

Rollins College,

Winter Park, FL 32789

Tel: 407-646-2152

Crock@rollins.edu

 

From: <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com> on behalf of "Dale Lampe dlampe21@yahoo.co.uk [MicrofinancePractice]" <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com>
Reply-To: "MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com" <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Wednesday, October 11, 2017 at 11:22
To: "MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com" <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: [MFP] Richard Thaler's behavioral economics recognized (yes, it is not new!)

 





Actually, if one has spent any time looking at markets, they will soon realize that economic decision making is not merely guided by classical theory.  Congratulations to Dr. Thaler, and must take a look at his work, but I would also recommend Elinor Ostrom's work.  Besides her keen insights into economic behavior, she also remains the only woman to date to have received the Nobel in Economics.  That might be worth looking into.  I can only remember one female professor of economics in my undergraduate and graduate studies.  Why is that?

 

Dale

 

 

 

From: "Anuj Jain ajain@stfx.ca [MicrofinancePractice]" <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com>
To: "MicrofinancePractice (MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com)" <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 11 October 2017, 10:43
Subject: [MFP] Richard Thaler's behavioral economics recognized (yes, it is not new!)

 

 

Behavioural Economics!

 

All Economists and Bankers- step back, take a look. There are many interviews floating around right now, listen to this pod-cast, if you may….

 

 

Many of us in social economics and finance know this intuitively, for we have been in the proximity of people and communities, and seen behaviours from close quarters. But some of us have suspended our own intuitive insights, and rather believed in classical models of banking and economics.  

 

Financial Diaries, and Portfolios of the Poor have been useful contributions in our own field, even though, I believe, we haven't used that insights enough in our collective work, and we knew about what was proposed in these books much before those work came out, through our own everyday experiences and interactions in communities.

 

My own sense is that –

 

  1. some of behavioural economics and insights into 'emotional economic beings' can be more generalised, and yet, others can't be – for there are massive contextual variations – cultural codes, economic realities, consumer preferences. Why many women in south Asia will continue to invest in Gold jewellery knowing well that it loses its value over time; and why in many places small farmers will not give up farming even when they continue to make losses more frequently than profits and others leave farming; why we see vast variations of different types of economic and financial behaviours in financial diary insights/ works of FSD Kenya, many others, why some prefer to become economic refugees and others don't?  …..   So, what shall we generalise and what we make sure to understand in a more nuanced fashion (?)-  it is a fascinating pluralistic reality, something that would keep us busy learning all our lives.  
  2. we now know for sure (I think) that technical solutions such as micro-credit, microfinance, digital finance, enterprise development, value chain work – won't fix massive economic inequity issue we all face today; unless we look at behavioural economics at the systems level, and rebalance the powers.  The challenge is massive, but articulating the problem right, is perhaps half the battle won.

 

It is a bit of a pity that Noble Prize as an institution legitimises some of these otherwise widely understood social behaviours; but then, hey, we will take it! So, what does it mean for us, if anything?

 

 

anuj

 

 

 

Anuj K. Jain

Faculty, Development Leaedrship, Inclusive Economies (Microfinance, Market Systems, Urban Economies), Partnerships

Sr. Project Specialist| COADY International Institute

St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, B2G 2W5| Ph: 902-872-0521

id:image001.jpg@01CADFB8.12862C40

 

 





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Posted by: Anuj Jain <ajain@stfx.ca>
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.

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Re: [MFP] Re: Special Virtual Edition of 'Development and Change' on the rise

 

Dear Milford

Thank you again, for sharing your valuable resources at ResearchGate... Of all the resources, perhaps the one titled ''From Panacea to 'Anti-Development' Intervention: The Rise and Fall of Microcredit (UNCTAD Discussion Paper, May 2017) can be of particular interest to many. ... Among others it touches upon the critical issue 'blanket targeting' of micro-credit (to everyone), which has also been highlighted in the (very widely debated!!) research outcome ''Six Randomized Evaluation of Microcredit'' (by Abhijit Banerji, Dean Karlan and Jonatan Zinman, 2014). ... We have re-emphasized the value of saving products to many poor people, which often constitute the majority in many contexts, also posted at the same resource center (Research Gate):


Thank you for the suggestions.

Regards

Getaneh




On Tuesday, October 10, 2017 1:34 AM, "milford bateman milfordbateman@yahoo.com [MicrofinancePractice]" <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com> wrote:


 
Dear Getaneh

Nice to hear from you again. I think this network will soon close down for lack of interest or else be renamed "Financial Inclusion Practice Group' or something like that....

To your question - you can find most of my work on microfinance at my author page at Research Gate

While I am here, you might be interested in most recent output posted last week which is a book chapter written with Professor Sonja Novkovic and it refers to Muhammad Yunus's concept of social business, which he is now pushing hard with a new book 'A World of Three Zeros'. I have the book on order, but in the meantime I saw him on Democracy Now! and I have to say that I was far from impressed with his presentation on social business and in particular, his apparent new found belief in equality. I almost died laughing hearing him denounce people like Carlos Slim in Mexico and others for their enormous wealth without saying that he has defended them consistently over the years, serve on their foundations, accepted their awards, and so on. He has also taken their cash to set up microfinance units, such as from  Carlos Slim to set up a Grameen microfinance unit in Mexico. Anyway, our current chapter is here: Muhammad Yunus's model of social business: A new, more humane form of capitalism or a failed "next big idea'?



It is included in the current edited book I have out co-edited with Kate Maclean and with a foreword by James K Galbraith, titled 'Seduced and Betrayed: Exposing the Contemporary Microfinance Phenomenon' which you can find here: 


__._,_.___
Posted by: Getaneh Gobezie <getanehg2002@yahoo.com>
Reply via web post • Reply to sender • Reply to group • Start a New Topic • Messages in this topic (2)
Have you tried the highest rated email app?
With 4.5 stars in iTunes, the Yahoo Mail app is the highest rated email app on the market. What are you waiting for? Now you can access all your inboxes (Gmail, Outlook, AOL and more) in one place. Never delete an email again with 1000GB of free cloud storage.
WARNING! If you hit REPLY, your message will go to the entire listserve, not just the original author!

.

__,_._,___
No comments:

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Re: [MFP] Richard Thaler's behavioral economics recognized (yes, it is not new!)

 

As a psychology major in my B.A., with an emphasis on natural sciences besides, when I got into Economics in grad school I was amazed at the full rationality assumption of almost all models and wondered why they (economists) did not learn from reality.  Thaler, at least is a realist on human behaviors.

 

The lack of connection to reality was part of the malpractice that led macroeconomics to descend into the free market utopianism of ca. 1970s-2007/8.  Macro is still in dispute, but hopefully it can evolve towards more emphasis on actual economic evidence.

 

A couple decades ago, the Nobel prize in Econ committee in Sweden changed the leadership (a converted—from the left-- Conservative finally was off; I interviewed for my dissertation on Sweden before the reforms in the award process & committee, and was surprised at what a jerk he was).  The prize topic was broadened (in English it became the prize in social sciences) and the committee occasionally has non-economists on it since then.  This reform was before Ostrom, a political scientist, was awarded the prize. 

 

Remember, this Nobel Prize in Economics was only invented and supported by the Bank of Sweden on its 300th anniversary in 1968-69.  It is not a 'real Nobel' like the ones that began at the start of the 20th century (based on Nobel's own ideas), although the money is about the same, $1m. 

Charlie Rock 

 

Dr. Charles P. Rock,

Dept. of Economics,

Rollins College,

Winter Park, FL 32789

Tel: 407-646-2152

Crock@rollins.edu

 

From: <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com> on behalf of "Dale Lampe dlampe21@yahoo.co.uk [MicrofinancePractice]" <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com>
Reply-To: "MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com" <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Wednesday, October 11, 2017 at 11:22
To: "MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com" <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: [MFP] Richard Thaler's behavioral economics recognized (yes, it is not new!)

 




Actually, if one has spent any time looking at markets, they will soon realize that economic decision making is not merely guided by classical theory.  Congratulations to Dr. Thaler, and must take a look at his work, but I would also recommend Elinor Ostrom's work.  Besides her keen insights into economic behavior, she also remains the only woman to date to have received the Nobel in Economics.  That might be worth looking into.  I can only remember one female professor of economics in my undergraduate and graduate studies.  Why is that?

 

Dale

 

 

 

From: "Anuj Jain ajain@stfx.ca [MicrofinancePractice]" <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com>
To: "MicrofinancePractice (MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com)" <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 11 October 2017, 10:43
Subject: [MFP] Richard Thaler's behavioral economics recognized (yes, it is not new!)

 

 

Behavioural Economics!

 

All Economists and Bankers- step back, take a look. There are many interviews floating around right now, listen to this pod-cast, if you may….

 

 

Many of us in social economics and finance know this intuitively, for we have been in the proximity of people and communities, and seen behaviours from close quarters. But some of us have suspended our own intuitive insights, and rather believed in classical models of banking and economics.  

 

Financial Diaries, and Portfolios of the Poor have been useful contributions in our own field, even though, I believe, we haven't used that insights enough in our collective work, and we knew about what was proposed in these books much before those work came out, through our own everyday experiences and interactions in communities.

 

My own sense is that –

 

  1. some of behavioural economics and insights into 'emotional economic beings' can be more generalised, and yet, others can't be – for there are massive contextual variations – cultural codes, economic realities, consumer preferences. Why many women in south Asia will continue to invest in Gold jewellery knowing well that it loses its value over time; and why in many places small farmers will not give up farming even when they continue to make losses more frequently than profits and others leave farming; why we see vast variations of different types of economic and financial behaviours in financial diary insights/ works of FSD Kenya, many others, why some prefer to become economic refugees and others don't?  …..   So, what shall we generalise and what we make sure to understand in a more nuanced fashion (?)-  it is a fascinating pluralistic reality, something that would keep us busy learning all our lives.  
  2. we now know for sure (I think) that technical solutions such as micro-credit, microfinance, digital finance, enterprise development, value chain work – won't fix massive economic inequity issue we all face today; unless we look at behavioural economics at the systems level, and rebalance the powers.  The challenge is massive, but articulating the problem right, is perhaps half the battle won.

 

It is a bit of a pity that Noble Prize as an institution legitimises some of these otherwise widely understood social behaviours; but then, hey, we will take it! So, what does it mean for us, if anything?

 

 

anuj

 

 

 

Anuj K. Jain

Faculty, Development Leaedrship, Inclusive Economies (Microfinance, Market Systems, Urban Economies), Partnerships

Sr. Project Specialist| COADY International Institute

St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, B2G 2W5| Ph: 902-872-0521

id:image001.jpg@01CADFB8.12862C40

 

 




__._,_.___
Posted by: Charlie Rock <crock@rollins.edu>
Reply via web post • Reply to sender • Reply to group • Start a New Topic • Messages in this topic (3)
Have you tried the highest rated email app?
With 4.5 stars in iTunes, the Yahoo Mail app is the highest rated email app on the market. What are you waiting for? Now you can access all your inboxes (Gmail, Outlook, AOL and more) in one place. Never delete an email again with 1000GB of free cloud storage.
WARNING! If you hit REPLY, your message will go to the entire listserve, not just the original author!

.

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