- Code:
- ECOK-278
- Field:
- Development Economics
- Target:
- Bachelor's students
- Organiser:
- University of Helsinki - Economics
- Instructor:
- Ashim Kar
- Period:
- Period 4
- Format:
- Lecture
- Method:
- Contact teaching
- Venue:
- Economicum building
- Enrollment:
Former course name: Microfinance and Development
In case of conflicting information consider the Sisu/Course/Moodle pages the primary source of information.
Aalto, Hanken and UH economics students can enroll through their home university’s SISU. Further instructions are available on the How to enroll? page, also for students from other universities.
If you would like to count the credits towards your degree, please check your curriculum or contact your supervisor or student services for guidance.
- To access the Moodle course area, use all the features and participate in the activities (assignments, discussions), you must have successfully registered for the course in Sisu and logged in with your UH user ID.
- For more information on how to activate your UH user ID and register for a Moodle course area, click here.
Course schedule in Sisu and Course page will be published in July
Content
The course covers the key topics in microfinance and is organised in four major parts. The first part of the course will cover issues important for understanding different microfinance markets. The second part of the course will assess financial and social performance of microfinance institutions. Student will apply tools used in practice by analysts or microfinance managers. In the third part, policies to build inclusive financial systems will be examined. Topics in this part include financial sector policies in general and microfinance regulation and supervision in particular. In the fourth part, we will cover the financing issues and commercialization of microfinance. Particular emphasis will be given to microfinance mission drift, market saturation and competition as well as over-indebtedness and repayment crises in different microfinance markets.
Learning outcomes
After completing the course students should be able to understand the main features of microfinance and how it works if credit markets fail. Students should be able to analyse theoretical perspectives and debates on microfinance to practice and policy situations, evaluate the impacts of microfinance and identify the implications of commercialisation and mission drift in microfinance. Students will also gain the skills required for completing other courses in economics in general and development economics in particular.