Nearly forty percent of humanity lives on an average of two dollars a
day or less. If you've never had to survive on an income so small, it is
hard to imagine. How would you put food on the table, afford a home, and
educate your children? How would you handle emergencies and old age?
Every day, more than a billion people around the world must answer these
questions. Portfolios of the Poor is the first book to systematically
explain how the poor find solutions to their everyday financial
problems.
The authors conducted year-long interviews with impoverished villagers
and slum dwellers in Bangladesh, India, and South Africa--records that
track penny by penny how specific households manage their money. The
stories of these families are often surprising and inspiring. Most poor
households do not live hand to mouth, spending what they earn in a
desperate bid to keep afloat. Instead, they employ financial tools, many
linked to informal networks and family ties. They push money into
savings for reserves, squeeze money out of creditors whenever possible,
run sophisticated savings clubs, and use microfinancing wherever
available. Their experiences reveal new methods to fight poverty and
ways to envision the next generation of banks for the "bottom billion."
Indispensable for those in development studies, economics, and
microfinance, Portfolios of the Poor will appeal to anyone interested
in knowing more about poverty and what can be done about it.
