From Bangladesh to India, Cambodia and the Philippines, why has microfinance failed to live up to its promise?

Decades of experience suggest that credit alone has not delivered the transformation to economic independence

Rob Elliott/AFP via Getty Image Microfinance was once celebrated as Asia’s tool to lift people out of poverty. From Bangladesh to India, Cambodia and the Philippines, the promise was simple: provide small loans to low-income households, help them start businesses, increase income and escape poverty. Pioneered in the 1