Savings, Insurance and Credit

Abstract

Poor people do not just have less wealth than rich people — they have different kinds of wealth And some of the forms of wealth held by the poor are less good value than assets commonly held by the rich — they accumulate more slowly or lose their real value faster. Outlets for poor people’s savings — including pensions and insurance — are restricted and are often poor investments: and their ability to accumulate physical assets is weakened by difficulties in obtaining credit (‘reverse saving’) at reasonable rates of interest.