Southeast Asia's Credit Revolution describes and explains the rise of microfinance - the provision of credit and other financial services for the poor - in Southeast Asia, over the past four decades the most consistently successful region of the developing world. In recent years microfinance has come to be seen as a key weapon in the battle against global poverty, generating more enthusiasm and optimism than any other development strategy.

Southeast Asia has a special place in the history of microfinance. Historically, Southeast Asian societies and economies were...

Despite recent economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, most people there are still almost as poor as they were half a century ago. This book asks the vital question: why have Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam been able to reduce levels of absolute poverty in recent years more successfully than many African countries, such as Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania?
In Asia-Africa Development Divergence, David Henley corrects widespread misconceptions about rapid poverty reduction in Asia and Africa and, in their place, presents a simple, radical explanation for...