David Roodman's Microfinance Open Book Blog

Weekly Tweets for 2010-03-19

David Roodman — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:00:00 +0000

For all Center for Global Development tweeters, follow @CGDev/fellows (me, @nancymbirdsall, @cblatts, @vijramachandran, @michael_clemens…) # New @CGDev/fellows list also has @owenbarder, @ricardo_hausman… # Truthiness and Justiness at the #Haiti Debt Hearing http://j.mp/b27W7I with video highlights and a word from Stephen Colbert # My latest:Truthiness & Justiness at Haiti Debt Hearing http://bit.ly/diMva9 running video commentary @TimHarford @bill_easterly @AnnieLowrey # Rich [...]

Weekly Tweets for 2010-03-19

David Roodman — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:00:00 +0000

For all Center for Global Development tweeters, follow @CGDev/fellows (me, @nancymbirdsall, @cblatts, @vijramachandran, @michael_clemens…) # New @CGDev/fellows list also has @owenbarder, @ricardo_hausman… # Truthiness and Justiness at the #Haiti Debt Hearing http://j.mp/b27W7I with video highlights and a word from Stephen Colbert # Rich Rosenberg @CGAP How to Tell Good MFIs from Bad MFIs http://j.mp/dcRW7G Hard to know when [...]

As a Matter of Policy, Put Policies to the Experimental Test

David Roodman — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:07:06 +0000

Columnist Tim Harford in today’s Financial Times (free with registration, I think): It is a shame, then, that there is so little appetite from politicians for the same standards of evidence outside medicine. In fact it is more than a shame – it’s a scandal. While randomised trials are not going to tell us when to [...]

Cross-post: Truthiness and Justiness at the Haiti Debt Hearing

David Roodman — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:11:44 +0000

For devout followers of Roodman Thought, another curmudgeonly post on Views from the Center about debt relief for Haiti. I used video in a new way, as you’ll see.

Weekly Tweets for 2010-03-12

David Roodman — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Alex Counts of @GrameenFdn on why 2009's #microfinance impact studies don't persuade him http://j.mp/aNvGob # Mark Pickens @CGAP on pushing mobile money projects to work harder on savings http://j.mp/dDxZI3 # RT @Nidhi_C "Quest for fast growth lands #India 's #microfinance institutions in soup" Economic Times http://j.mp/9bOfQA # New blog on finance and development Asli Demirgüç-Kunt, World Bank http://j.mp/aZsNxl [...]

Cross-post: What We Talk About When We Talk About Development

David Roodman — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:37:53 +0000

On CGD’s main blog, I just wrote about one big idea that has come out of my work on microfinance, which is the value of systematically enunciating different conceptions of “development” and then measuring a given intervention against them. This device has been essential for in gaining a conceptual command of microfinance. I wonder about [...]

A Little More History on Pearl and Grameen

David Roodman — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:11:04 +0000

Recently I received this interesting letter, shared with permission. It adds background to my post on Pearl, Yunus, and History: On March 7, 2010, Syed Zahirul Abedin zahirul64@gmail.com wrote to Mr David Roodman Center for Global Development To Mr David Roodman Center for Global Development 1800 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Third Floor Washington DC 20036 Dear Sir, I am a Bangladeshi journalist writing to you [...]

Rhetorical Blast from My Past

David Roodman — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:50:50 +0000

Yesterday, I mentioned the 2007 report Role Reversal by Julie Abrams and Damian von Stauffenberg. The report made a big splash, with coverage in the Economist and an online debate on the Microfinance Gateway. It argued that international financial institutions such as the EBRD and IFC were crowding private investors out of what was properly [...]

Too Much Finance for Microfinance

David Roodman — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:11:09 +0000

The first time I encountered Herman Daly’s work was part of a serendipitous chain of events of the sort that gives you pause years later with the thought of how different your life would be now if it had gone a tad differently then. Just out of college, I was spending a year at Cambridge [...]

Grameen Bank Delinquency Update

David Roodman — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:01:13 +0000

Last month I blogged rising loan delinquency at the Grameen Bank. Here’s an update. I have twice e-mailed Grameen Bank’s Chief Financial Officer, Md. Shahjahan, the first time four weeks ago, hoping to learn more about what is behind the numbers. I also sent a message to Professor Yunus. I have received no reply. The Bank just [...]