Honors Program Theses

Award/Availability

Open Access Honors Program Thesis

First Advisor

Imam Alam

Keywords

Microfinance;

Abstract

There is no question that poverty is a devastating problem in our world today; the UN estimates 34,000 children and 16,000 adults die each day from hunger or preventable diseases with poverty-related causes, totaling more than 18 million a year (Riddell, 2007). One way that poverty is exacerbated is through the inaccessibility of credit to the poor (Todaro, 2006). Microcredit/microfinance has become a popular way of addressing this problem, and this affects a great percentage of the world population that is impoverished. Therefore, a true evaluation of the benefits and downfalls of this economic tool should be addressed. The purpose of this thesis is to determine if microcredit/microfinance programs in developing countries are truly helping those living in poverty, and how these programs can achieve the main goal behind the concept. A specific case of microcredit programs in Nicaragua will serve as an illustration of the focus of this thesis. Finally, the implications of the findings will be discussed and suggestions for future projects will be offered.

Year of Submission

2008

Department

Department of Economics

University Honors Designation

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation University Honors

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

5-2008

Object Description

1 PDF file (46 pages)

Share

COinS