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The Political Economy of Micro-Credit in Africa

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The Palgrave Handbook of African Political Economy

Part of the book series: Palgrave Handbooks in IPE ((PHIPE))

Abstract

This chapter looks at the political economy of micro-credit supply and consumption in Africa with the resulting socio-economic consequences. The importance of the empirical engagement with the socio-economic consequence of the provision and consumption of micro-credit highlights its positives or negatives in different contexts, rather than romanticizing with the universality of its goodness. It is important to emphasize the micro-credit supply driven by neoliberal market logic (and not subsidy-based) and demanded smoothening individual consumption (and not productively invested). The study of micro-credit institutions and the implications of their activities for the quality of social reproduction in South Africa set the empirical scene for this chapter.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia

    Kolawole Emmanuel Omomowo

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  1. Kolawole Emmanuel Omomowo
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

    Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba

  2. Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba

  3. Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Toyin Falola

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Omomowo, K.E. (2020). The Political Economy of Micro-Credit in Africa. In: Oloruntoba, S.O., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Political Economy. Palgrave Handbooks in IPE. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38922-2_43

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