Incluye bibliografía.

Preface -- Pt. 1 Finance and financial markets -- 1. Financial markets create value -- 2. Value generates risk -- 3. Characteristics of finance -- Pt. 2 The conventional assault on the frontier -- 4. Credit needs and related allocation criteria -- 5. Common strategic flaws in efforts to channel credit to the frontier -- 6. Policy and practice that reduce value at the frontier -- 7. Signs of poor fits at the frontier -- Pt. 3 Structural considerations in frontier development -- 8. Value for the people: informal finance -- 9. Creating value at the frontier through innovation -- 10. Creating value at the frontier in market niches: the grand synthesis -- Pt. 4 A sustainable strategy for frontier development -- 11. Lending strategies and development leverage -- 12. Defining the role of credit by determining debt capacity -- 13. Principles for responsive intervention at the frontier -- 14. Measuring the results of efforts to expand the frontier -- Annexes -- References.

The first purpose of this book is to suggest how good loans can be made to individuals and firms at the " frontier. " This frontier is not geographic, but market based. On one side are those parts of the legitimate economy that are not usually considered creditworthy by formal financial institutions, and on the other are the generally more prosperous entities that do have access to formal finance. Good loans are loans that are repaid according to the terms agreed on when they were issued. The second purpose of this book is to suggest how lending at the frontier can be remunerative to commercial banks, development banks and other development finance agencies that retail credit and assume credit risk. Remunerative lending is important because most lenders, regardless of their ownership and institutional form, tend to avoid activities that are not attractive. Unremunerative lending is transitory, unstable, and not robust in the face of adversity. Credit markets function poorly when lenders are not adequately rewarded. Experience at the frontier clearly indicates that weak financial institutions do not do a good job serving society in general and firms and individuals at the frontier in particular. This book is intended for readers interested in the relationship between finance and development at the firm and household levels and in the use of credit by individuals in low-income countries.