A market approach to micro ... nance : a deserving research agenda ¤

August 17, 2000 Abstract. A research agenda is presented that focuses on the use of market principles and institutions as a micro...nance development strategy. The strategy is based on the central idea that a poverty reduction strategy can be based on the creation of employment opportunities in microand small sized enterprises (MSE) for which it is necessary to facilitate the access to credit to these enterprises. This ...nancing, in turn, should be promoted through market-based micro...nance intermediaries (MFI) rather than the usual non-market mechanisms such as NGO and other public funding schemes. To create the conditions that will allow these market-based MFI to operate, the appropriate ”enabling environment” must exist. A research agenda in proposed that may to provide evidences about the e¢cacy of this strategy and insights about some of the key issues that must be studied to better understand the functioning of these market-based MFI.