A Critical History of Poverty Finance: Colonial Roots and Neoliberal Failures

By Bernards Nick Bernards and Nick Bernards

Book Overview

Finance, mobile, and digital technologies - or 'fintech' - are being heralded in the world of development by the likes of the IMF and World Bank as a silver bullet in the fight against poverty. But should we believe the hype? A Critical History of Poverty Finance demonstrates how newfangled 'digital financial inclusion' efforts suffer from the same essential flaws as earlier iterations of neoliberal 'financial inclusion.' Relying on artificially created markets that simply aren't there among the world's most disadvantaged economic actors, they also reinforce existing patterns of inequality and uneven development, many of which date back to the colonial era. Bernards offers an astute analysis of the current fintech fad, contextualized through a detailed colonial history of development finance, that ultimately reveals the neoliberal vision of poverty alleviation for the pipe dream it is.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0745344828
• ISBN13: 9780745344829
• Release Date: August 2022
• Publisher: Pluto Press (UK)
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.4"