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L’intrication bancaire des vies ordinaires que nous connaissons en France est loin de s’imposer dans nombre de pays du « Sud global ». La, l’epargne et le pret s’inscrivent dans des rapports sociaux informels enchevetres, qu’ils soient d’emploi, familiaux, villageois… Isabelle Guerin montre que ces liens financiers multiples engagent a la fois obligation, exploitation, solidarite et puissance d’agir, expliquant pourquoi, au Tamil Nadu (Inde), les pauvres resistent de longue date a la bancarisation en la refusant ou la detournant. Pourtant, leur inclusion au systeme financier formel est en train d’etre imposee a marche forcee. Faudra-t-il – et sera-t-il possible de – reinventer des formes autonomes, solidaires et souples d’epargne, de pret, d’assurance qui transposent le meilleur – et evitent le pire – des savoir-faire informels dans des « cooperatives » ou des « mutuelles » degagees des dominations de caste, de classe, de genre qui s’y jouent aujourd’hui ?

International audience; Debt is often thought of as a mere economic variable governed by a simplistic mechanical logic, ignoring its other facets. Whose debt, and debt of what exactly ? This volume analyzes debt as a political and social construct, with a multiplicity of purposes and agents. All of these are vectors of meanings that are highly diverse, and of subtle distinctions ; they show that debt is a transverse phenomenon, cutting across spaces that are not merely economic but also domestic, social and political. Each contributor takes a fresh view of the subject, dealing with debt at a different time, in a different society, on a different scale of observation. By adopting a determinedly interdisciplinary approach, the authors reveal in the phenomenon of debt a diversity of social and gendered determinants that amount in some cases to domination, allegiance or slavery, and in others to solidarity and emancipation. Debt is at one and the same time shared, imposed, political and gendered.

International audience

International audience

À l'heure où l'on observe un chantage planétaire sur la dette, ces questions s'imposent. Que véhicule la dette et quels en sont les principaux acteurs ? La dette est toujours indissociablement sociale et économique. Les contributions ici réunies s'interrogent sur les modalités du partage de la dette et sur les contraintes qu'elle génère. Elles abordent les dimensions symboliques et politiques de la dette dans diverses sociétés et soulignent le caractère sexué de la dette des femmes. Entre les dettes qui peuvent se solder et celles dont la durée est sans fin, l'analyse de la dette pose un défi stimulant aux économistes comme aux anthropologues.

This article aimed to deepen understandings of poor household borrowing practices by drawing on a case study from rural Southern India. It combines descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis to show that households juggle with a wide range of borrowing sources and that each serves very specific purposes. From a theoretical perspective, we suggest that the neoclassical cost/benefit framework often used to analyse debt decisions should be enlarged to include social criteria in line with recent insights from economic anthropology and political economy. From a policy perspective, we argue that all things being equal, local financial arrangements might have important comparative advantages over traditional microfinance products.

International audience; There is growing consensus that microfinance supply is too standardised, inflexible and inadequate given the diversity of financial needs. As a result, microfinance is a very partial substitute for informal financial services and their comparative advantages. This paper aims to deepen understanding of financial service demand by learning from informal finance. Based on economic anthropology, our analysis shows that microfinance does not substitute informal finance for many reasons: because money and informal finance are multidimensional and context specific; because the boundary between saving and borrowing is blurred; because money circulates in small quantities and quickly in village economies; because informal finance is more flexible; and, last but not least, because informal finance is a vector of social inclusion.

National audience

La nobelisation de Muhammad Yunus et de la Grameen Bank suscite un consensus mediatique sans precedent sur les vertus supposees de la microfinance en matiere de lutte contre la pauvrete et de reduction des inegalites. « Un instrument fort efficace de liberation des pauvres, en particulier des femmes » : c’est ainsi que les membres du jury du Nobel justifient leur choix en considerant qu’il ne saurait y avoir de paix sans reduction de la pauvrete, et il a ete demontre, disent-ils, que le micro...

Quelle est la capacite des institutions de microfinance a attenuer les risques auxquels font face leurs clients ? Cette question amene a s’interroger sur les structures et dynamiques productrices de vulnerabilite dans une societe donnee, et sur la maniere dont la microfinance, comme technique et pratique financiere, vient s’y articuler. Le cas de la Bolivie fait apparaitre un decalage entre une determination structurelle des vulnerabilites et leur traitement individuel par la microfinance. Cette derniere s’eloigne ainsi d’initiatives existantes misant sur l’action collective et l’associativite entre petits producteurs et tend au contraire a accentuer la fragmentation du tissu entrepreneurial. De la sorte, elle ne contribue pas de maniere optimale a l’attenuation des risques de ses clients. Ce constat souleve finalement la question de l’ancrage politique de la microfinance et de ses frontieres avec un modele d’economie solidaire.

This article examines the complexity and diversity of womens informal financial practices using data from surveys conducted in Senegal. It suggests that these practices are at the centre of a constant dialectic between short-term and long-term horizons between the requirements of daily survival and the demands of community solidarity and between personal aspirations and collective constraints. These practices also clearly illustrate a desire among the women in Senegal to impose a form of financial self-discipline and to create situations that will oblige them to earn income. The socio-economic diversity among these entrepreneurs is also underscored. Informal financial arrangements are both a product and producer of gender inequalities and inequalities among women as reflected in the research. This has direct policy implications especially for microfinance products. If they are to be effective microfinance services must develop beyond a standard one-size fits all model and become more innovative and adaptable to the diverse demands of women. They must be combined with complementary measures that challenge the systemic causes of inequality. Microfinance programmes should draw on informal financial arrangements while challenging their tendency to perpetuate inequality. (authors)