The current issue of The New Yorker (dated October 30th) has a very interesting 10-page article on microfinance. In fact, it’s the principal article of the issue and that just goes to show how hot the subject of microfinance is at the moment. Here at the Institute we have been strong advocates of a greater role for microfinance. The article details some of the differing views on the best ways of structuring microfinance institutions (whether they should be for-profit or non-profit, for example). The diversity of views on how to implement microfinance is one of its great strengths. Unlike big, top-down macro plans, micro approaches to increasing prosperity allow much more experimentation and let better ideas win out.

It’s clear from the article that supporting microfinance initiatives can be very appealing for successful Western businesspeople wanting to put their earned cash to good use. It documents the thinking of eBay’s founder Pierre Omidyar who has given $100m to his alma mater Tufts University on condition that it is invested in microfinance. Getting involved with microfinance is also of interest to others in the technology industry including Microsoft founder Bill Gates, computer manufacturer Michael Dell, and Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google.